


When the night falls

by legendloueh



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: BAMF Klaus Hargreeves, Family Bonding, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Drug Addiction, Light Angst, Minor Dave/Klaus Hargreeves, Post-Season/Series 01, Protective Siblings, Reginald Hargreeves' A+ Parenting, Sibling Bonding, Sober Klaus Hargreeves, Team as Family, This is basically a combination of self indulgence and head-cannons, Time Travel, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-21
Updated: 2020-08-27
Packaged: 2020-09-07 18:07:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 61,683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20313763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/legendloueh/pseuds/legendloueh
Summary: When the Hargreeves family travel to the past after the destruction of the moon, they will have to learn how to co-exist once again after nearly two decades of separation. They must figure out how to work together to alter the past and change the outcomes of the future while trying to avoid detection from the Commission. As time passes, the family will begin to heal from the past and realise that their greatest strengths come from each other.(or, a story of family, redemption and healing - all while saving the world.)





	1. and so it begins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter could also be called "nobody knows what the hell they're doing. Not even the author."

CHAPTER I

Travelling through time, Klaus had found, was not a pleasant experience. 

He had more than enough time travel after returning from Vietnam, with the full body itch and the horrendous headache. He would have been happy to live out the rest of his days as far away from time travel as possible, as just the thought of that briefcase brought aching pain to his heart and loud noises sometimes took him back to the trenches and gun fire that made up ten months of his life. 

But Klaus had clearly forgot to consider the possibility of the moon getting destroyed and triggering the apocalypse, and Five pulling all of them along with him in a last stitch effort to save the human race. While Klaus was not sure what exactly they can achieve in the past to stop the moon from exploding, he knew it was too late to turn back now. 

Despite how much he hated it, he was once again travelling to the past. Only this time his siblings were with him, but Klaus had yet to figure out if that was a good thing or a bad thing. 

Surrounding him as far as the eye could reach was an endless expanse of blue nothingness, where his senses were left feeling overwhelmed. It took him a second to recognize Luther standing beside him, holding Vanya in his arms and grasping onto his hand tightly enough to bruise. Diego held onto his other hand, knuckles white from squeezing so hard. Ben had his hand on his shoulder, his fingers digging into his skin to make sure he didn’t get thrown off. If he was not so preoccupied, he would have been overjoyed with the fact that Ben could still touch him. 

He thought he heard someone screaming in his ear but his mind could not register a word through his rapidly growing headache and nausea. His stomach twisted and Klaus was sure that he would throw up if they did not land soon. The lights were blinding, the sounds were all mixing together, and the air was getting thinner and it was all making Klaus less aware of his surroundings the longer they were there. 

He thought he must have passed out at one point from the overwhelming sensations as the next thing he was aware of was collapsing in a heap on the ground alongside all his siblings. 

Diego’s torso cushioned his fall while Luther landed right on top of his right leg with a grunt. It took him several long seconds to have the presence of mind to open his eyes. His vision was a little blurry around the edges but he could make out Vanya’s legs, still in all-white, on top of his lap. He glanced up and found that Vanya’s head got cushioned by what looked like Allison’s body, Five was sprawled over Diego’s lower half and Ben was phased half-way through Luther’s chest. 

Having accounted for all of his siblings, he took a moment to calm down his racing heart. Everyone made it, the world was still in one piece and Klaus had to remind himself to keep breathing. He closed his eyes, swallowed the lump in his throat and tried to get his nausea to go away through the sheer force of will. 

After he started losing feeling in his leg, Luther took mercy on him and got off, readjusting Vanya until her legs were off of him as well. Klaus rolled off of Diego and onto the ground once he got his bearings, never being more thankful for solid ground beneath him. Reaching up to massage his temples, he tried to reduce the skull splitting headache going on inside his head. Klaus dealt with plenty of headaches in his life, but this one had to take the cake for being the worst. It felt like five different bands were banging drums inside his skull, each one trying to out-play the other. 

_Yeah_, Klaus thought as he groaned and cursed the universe, _fuck time travel._   


-.-.- 

He lost track of time pretty quickly, not knowing how long they laid there while slowly regaining awareness. They probably looked like a sorry bunch of misfits all spread out on the ground and groaning in pain. 

Klaus was still coming down from an intense adrenaline rush and trying to come to terms with the fact that they all managed to survive the end of the world, against all odds. No one tried to speak and for that he was grateful as that allowed him to ignore everything around him and just focus on trying to break through the wall in his head. It seemed like his mind was operating through a fog, and everything felt fuzzy. Rocks dug into his skin through his vest and the ground was moderately wet, but that was easy to ignore. There was a cool breeze touching at his skin and giving him goosebumps along his arms. 

Then, after what could have been five minutes or an hour, he felt someone move beside him. Klaus could not be bothered to open his eyes to see who it was. 

“Is everyone alright?” Luther’s voice ran out after a few more moments of silence, because of course it would be Luther who would speak first. His voice was quieter and softer than normal but still seemed to echo around them, causing Klaus to wince from the noise that sent a new wave of pain to his head. 

With a silent groan, Klaus pushed himself up with his elbows and looked up to see the others slowly trying to gather themselves. Now that he was partially more aware of his surroundings, Klaus could see that they ended up in some alleyway with a dead-end. There were trash cans against one brick wall. Some graffiti could be found on the walls and different kinds of rubbish littered the ground. This was more the kind of place Klaus would go to get something to take the edge off, or where he would pass out after a party and not the place he would expect to land after time travelling. 

He spotted Allison across from him, supporting Vanya’s head on her lap and using one hand to straighten out her clothes. Nodding briefly at him when she saw him looking in her direction, her lips pressed together into a tight line. The bandage on her throat stood out against her skin. 

Klaus saw Ben sitting down beside where Luther was shakily getting to his feet. Hood up and hands in his pockets, he seemed no worse for wear. Klaus almost felt jealous, wondering what effect time travel had on ghosts. Diego was already on his feet and supporting himself against the brick wall with one hand. His free hand rubbed at his temple. 

The only two people who did not move were Vanya and Five; both out cold and completely dead to the world around them. The low rise and fall of Five’s chest were the only indication that he was alive at all. 

Deciding to push himself up further, he pressed his back against the rough texture of the wall. He leaned his head back until he was staring at the sky above him. It seemed to be nearing sunset, the sky turning orange and pink with only a few clouds scattered around. 

He looked at where Five laid unconscious again, mulling over whether or not he should do something about him lying flat on rocky ground. That must not be comfortable, or good for his back and everyone else seemed perfectly at ease to just leave him there. Deciding to be nice to the brother that just saved him from becoming a pile of ash, he maneuvered Five’s small body and placed his head on his lap and supported his neck. It was harder than he expected to refrain from running his hands through his hair. 

Allowing himself to laugh a little on the inside about the fact that they all remained in their adult bodies while Five still looked thirteen, he thought Five looked strangely adorable when he was sleeping and not planning murder. If the little psycho ever found out about this, Klaus was sure he would get his hands chopped off. 

A low murmur of confirmation from Diego was the only answer Luther received. Klaus nearly forgot Luther had spoken at all, if he was being honest. Luther looked from Allison to Klaus in question, and only looked satisfied when Allison nodded her head and Klaus raised a thumbs up. 

Nobody seemed to know what to say after that, spreading heavy silence between them. Klaus could only hear the distant sound of a dog barking, as well as the heavy breathing around him for a long and tense minute. 

The silence was only broken when Diego nodded towards Five’s still body and asked in a low and scratchy voice, “what’s with him?” 

“I don’t know,” Luther answered, still keeping his voice quiet. He rubbed at his shoulders once he was fully steady on his feet. “My guess is that he passed out from overworking himself.” 

Diego’s grunt was the only answer he received. 

“Klaus.” His head snapped up at the mention of his name to see Luther glancing around the alley before stopping where he was sitting. Sounding almost hesitant, he asked, “did Ben make it with us?” 

A small wave of surprise hit him at the question but he answered regardless. “Yeah.” His voice shook, and he had to clear his throat so that he could speak again. He nodded to the space beside Luther, “he’s sitting to your left.” Luther’s head turned towards Ben, but he saw nothing more than empty air. Klaus grinned at Ben, relieved that he did not get thrown off during the travel. “You doing okay, Benny boy?” 

Ben grinned back at him, “still in one piece.” 

“He said he’s just fine,” he said. 

Luther nodded his head. “Glad you made it, Ben,” he said quickly, turning away before Klaus could deliver any kind of answer. Ben furrowed his eyebrows but shrugged his shoulders and leaned back to look upwards. 

As another throbbing pain shot through his head, Klaus felt like he would do just about anything for an aspirin right now. Or a drink. Every crevice of his head hurt so much that he felt sick. Or maybe that was the withdrawals. Klaus didn’t know. 

What he did know was that he was way too sober for this. For everything in general. 

Klaus patted down his pockets with shaky hands and found nothing more than some loose coins, an empty cigarette pack, a lighter and two empty drug bags. He closed his eyes and tried to keep his irritation away, hoping against hope that some divine being would take mercy on him and strike him down. Ben gave him a look, as if he knew about every one of his thoughts and was not impressed in the slightest. 

After everyone who was conscious had regained enough of their bearings, and Klaus could finally think straight, Diego spoke again with determination. “We need a plan.” He looked around with darting eyes, as if he expected someone to attack them out of nowhere. Thinking back to the bowling alley, maybe he had a point. “We can’t stay here.” 

Luther nodded, already taking on the role of the leader. “I agree. We will need to find out what date it is.” Pausing, it took him a second to continue. “Then, we need find out where we are and the closest way to the Academy. It would be in our best interest to get there before nightfall, but that depends on how far away we are.” 

“Why the Academy?” 

“Because it’s our home.” Luther said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “And to tell Dad what happened.” Ben groaned out loud and Klaus was inclined to agree. 

Four sets of eyes turned to stare at Luther with incredulousness written all over their faces. Allison opened her mouth, before remembering she couldn’t speak. She looked around, searching for the notepad she no longer had. Klaus wanted to say something too but Diego beat him to it before he could so much as open his mouth. 

“Are you serious?” he exclaimed, his disbelief turning into anger and his hands already curling into fists. “Even after everything that happened, even after you found out what he did, you still want to run off to him?” 

“He will know what to do in this situation.” Luther answered back. “More than any of us will.” 

“No, Five will know what to do if we just wait until he wakes up,” Diego said in a deadpan voice, as if talking to someone extremely slow. “In case you forgot, Five has actually time travelled before. Many times.” 

“Dad will-” 

“He will just make the situation worse!” 

Luther looked like he was starting to get angry. “Oh yeah? How?” He looked to Allison for support but she was watching the fight like a game of tennis, looking like she tasted something sour. She ran her fingers through Vanya’s hair, trying to untangle one of her knots and just shook her head when she noticed Luther’s stare. Ben looked like he was five seconds away from banging his head against the brick wall, not caring if he would phase through it or not. 

Diego rolled his eyes. “How do you think Vanya will react when she wakes up and sees the man who imprisoned her and suppressed her powers for her whole life? Especially now?” He looked up to the sky, as if asking for patience, or a will to live. “She’s unstable enough as it is! Just in case you forgot, we are here to prevent her from ending the world again!” 

“That won’t happen if we just explain the situation to-” 

“How do we know that Reggie is still alive, anyway?” Luther was starting to turn red from getting interrupted twice, but Klaus was getting really tired of the fighting. They were not doing his headache any favors, so he decided to add his own two cents to the discussion. “He could still be dead for all we know.” 

“Huh?” Luther blinked at him, the beginning of a scowl appearing on his face. 

Klaus resisted the urge to roll his own eyes. “For all we know Reggie is already long dead if we got transported back to any of the eight days leading up to the apocalypse.” 

Diego nodded at him. “And even if he were still alive, I’m not going back to him, even if I have to go on my own,” he said, before pausing. He turned to him. “Klaus, what about you?” 

“Oh yeah, there’s no way I’m going back to him,” he answered easily. Luther was fully scowling now, with his arms crossed over his chest. Klaus would have thought that Luther knew better, after finding that he was sent to the moon for no reason but he must have been giving Luther too much credit. Old habits, he guessed. 

Diego nodded again, satisfied. He turned his head towards Allison. “Allison?” 

She looked back and forth between Luther and Diego. Nodding quickly at Diego, she avoided eye contact with Luther and just looked down at her sister on her lap. Luther’s scowl disappeared and was replaced with a hurt look that made him look like an overgrown kicked puppy. 

Diego was smirking now. He turned back to Klaus and asked, “what does Ben want?” 

Klaus looked over at Ben with a questioning look and asked, fully knowing the answer, “well?” 

Ben didn’t hesitate when he replied, “I don’t want to go back to him.” He seemed pleased that his siblings finally realized that he was there. 

He was more than happy to deliver the message, “he agrees with us.” 

Diego nodded, crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back against the wall. “see? That’s four to one. And I could bet that neither Five nor Vanya want to go, either. You can’t just carry all of us there against our will, so you can either go by yourself or you can suck it up and stick with us.” He shrugged his shoulders. “Your choice.” 

Luther curled his hands into fists again. Klaus was worried he was going to throw a punch but instead he set his jaw and gritted his teeth. “fine. This is not the time to split up. We will need to work together if we want to get through this.” 

“Good,” Diego said. He cracked his knuckles as he announced, “I’ll go find out the date and try and figure out where we are. Luther stay with the others; I shouldn’t be long. In case of an emergency, meet me at the back of the nearest park.” He walked through the alleyway and left into the street without another word, not even looking back at them once. 

Klaus followed him with his eyes until he disappeared out of sight. Turning back to Luther, he noted his surprised and hurt expression. 

Not able to keep his straight face any longer, he downright cackled. The laugh burst from his throat as he threw his head back. He laughed, not only at the irony of Number One getting owned and getting told what to do by Number Two, but also because he knew that if he didn’t laugh, he’d cry. 

-.-.- 

As it turned out, they ended up in May 1982. 

Diego came back after approximately thirty minutes, white as a sheet, and told them that they were in some random forgettable town in upstate America. They ran around like a bunch of headless chickens for a good few minutes trying to figure out what they were supposed to do with that information. 

Luther tried to suggest finding Reggie again and ask him for help, to everyone’s annoyance. Diego had to tell him, slowly as if talking to a child and looking like he wanted to rip his own hair out, that they did not want to influence the timeline so much as to screw everything up. And telling their adoptive father about themselves over seven years before they were even born was definitely something that would screw everything up. Klaus was almost certain that Five found a way to possess Diego somehow, as Klaus did not think that Diego knew anything about timelines and time travel. Ben made a comment on how it was about time that Diego got some brain cells that had Klaus biting the inside of his cheek to stop himself from laughing. 

According to Diego, nobody was to know about them being from 2019. He said they would all stand out like sore thumbs against the eighties fashion, and needed to be very careful. He received plenty of weird looks, and he was out for only thirty minutes. Klaus told him that he always received weird looks as he looked like he just walked off the set of a kinky porno, to which Diego just flipped him off and continued on as if he had not spoken. 

They, by all intents and purposes, would not legally exist for over seven more years (though Klaus would be surprised if any of them ever even had a valid birth certificate at any point in their lives). Therefore, it would be in their best interest to stay out of sight and not bring any attention to themselves. Luther and Diego had varying opinions on just what they should do next, which quickly spiraled into another instalment in the Luther-and-Diego's-Dick-Measuring-Contest Saga. 

Klaus tried his best to stay out of the arguments, sitting in-between Ben and Allison with Vanya and Five on their laps and throwing unimpressed looks to Ben, but the two meatheads would occasionally ask for him to back their ideas up, as well as ask for his own input. He supposed that since neither Allison nor Ben could speak with them directly, Klaus was the only one left. But it still took him off guard, making him scramble for a reply to a question he only half listened to. 

As time went on, Klaus noticed the ghost of the man, who looked to be in his twenties, that clearly got stabbed in this alleyway. Klaus almost wanted the bad disorientation and fog that clouded his mind back if a clear head meant having to listen to the ghost wailing at his earliest convenience. Klaus never wanted to run off and get high so much in his life. His hands were shaking, begging for a pill or two, and he left as if he were on fire and drowning in ice at the same time. 

The lot of them threw around dozens of moronic ideas, argued about the smallest things, and nearing broke out into three different fist fights before they finally came up with a reasonable plan that everyone was willing to follow. Klaus was certain his brain was going to melt and drip out of his ears by the time they came to an agreement. 

Lay low, rest and wait for Five to wake up. Simple instructions all of them should be able to follow until tomorrow. 

As night was steadily approaching, they would need a place to sleep. All of them were exhausted after the events that took place that day and none of them were eager to sleep on the ground of an alleyway. Even Klaus, who did it so many times that he was used to it, did not want to sleep in an unfamiliar area with two of his siblings unconscious and defenseless. 

Diego told them that he ended up being out longer than intended because he was searching for a place for them to sleep. He found a trashy and low-quality motel about ten minutes away that they could stay the night in. They knew any money they had with them would not work in 1980s America and that they would have to somehow acquire some money tomorrow unless they managed to sneak away and not pay for their stay. 

Too tired and worn down to plan ahead any more, they decided that they would figure everything out properly once they have rested and once everyone was awake to have a say. Klaus didn’t think the fact that they were in the 1980s fully dawned on them yet, since he was still waiting for it to fully hit him, and he knew that once they were awake tomorrow, they would be due for more panic and fighting. 

They split into two groups in order to bring less attention to themselves. Luther would carry Vanya, and go with Allison, while Diego would carry Five and go with Klaus and Ben. They would have to stick to shadows and away from people, so no one would get concerned that they are carrying unconscious people with them. Klaus’ group would go first as Diego knew where the motel was, and Luther’s group would follow a distance behind. 

After making sure he still had enough knives on his person, Diego gently picked Five up and placed him on his back. He supported Five’s body as his head and arms lolled to the side. Klaus’ bones cracked when he stood up and he was a little unsteady on his feet as a wave of dizziness hit him. He quickly got over it, walking side by side with Diego as they walked out of the alley. 

Leaving the alleyway and into the streets beyond was like stepping into an old movie. Old cars lined the sidewalks and drove on the road, shops that Klaus had never even heard of were on both sides of the street and people with outdated clothing styles walked by, minding their own business. The sun was already setting and cast red hues of light on the landscape below, making everything appear surreal. 

They did not stick around to take in the view, however. Diego turned left immediately and Klaus went to follow him, with Ben tagging behind. Ben had his hands stuffed in his pockets and seemed to be on the lookout for anyone that could cause them trouble. While he did not think anyone would be looking for them so far in the past, he appreciated Ben’s help and left him to it. 

“Are you sure they’ll let us have a room with you holding someone unconscious?” Klaus asked Diego, keeping his voice steady and low. He scratched at his shaking arm, leaving red marks behind on his skin. 

“The place is a total dump. Places like that won’t care if you come in with a severed arm, much less an unconscious child. But if they ask, we are going to say that he is our little brother and he fell asleep on the long trip here,” Diego answered easily, shifting Five’s weight to make sure he didn’t drop him. “We’ll improvise any questions they might have.” They avoided a large group of people, and stuck to the sides. 

“Okay,” Klaus replied, not wanting to get too optimistic about things going well for them. He already had a backup plan in case things went south. “Let’s hope your plan works.” 

“Have a little faith,” Diego said with a roll of his eyes. Klaus just hummed in reply. The silence stretched between them for a few more minutes, which were spent with following Diego, making sure that Luther and Allison were following them and that nobody gave them much attention. Finally, Diego broke the silence with a question barely above a whisper. “Ben’s with us, isn’t he?” 

Klaus blinked slowly, and gestured behind them. “He’s on the lookout.” 

Diego steeled himself and turned to look behind them and gave Ben a brief smile. “Hi, Ben.” 

Ben smiled back at him, but it looked sad. He waved, even though he knew he wouldn’t be seen. “Hey, Diego. I missed you.” 

“He said that he missed you.” 

“I missed you too. So much.” Looking about ready to burst into tears, Diego took a deep breath. It took him a minute before he continued. “So, uh, you’re really serious about this? About getting sober? Since you can conjure Ben now?” 

Klaus winced and shared a look with Ben behind Diego’s shoulder. He shrugged. “Um, yeah. Haven’t had anything for two days. No, three days. Something like that.” 

“And how are you, y’know, coping?” Diego asked, looking as if he might actually care how Klaus was doing. “With the withdrawal?” 

“It sucks major ass,” Klaus replied, shrugging his shoulders again for lack of knowing what else to do. “My skin feels too hot and too cold and it hurts to focus. Since we got here all I have wanted to do was run away and get high on anything I could get my hands on. Though, last time I tried, Ben punched me in the face. It was the most bizarre thing I've ever seen.” Ben gave him a look. They needed to talk about what happened in the theatre, and if they could do it again. 

Diego drew his mouth into a thin line, and looked forward. He seemed to need to gather his thoughts. It took about another minute for Diego to say, “well I'm glad that you didn’t. And I'll support you through it. I know it’s not easy. Thank you, Ben, for looking out for this idiot the past few days.” 

Klaus almost didn’t know what to say to that. “Uh, yeah.” He swallowed the lump in his throat. “Thanks.” He shifted awkwardly. After hearing Ben’s smug response, he said, “the asshole said that someone has to.” 

Looking down at his feet stomping against the concrete of the path, Klaus noted that he was still wearing the bowling shoes. It had been a really long day and he had no chance to change, but he could have really used a shower. He trusted Ben to inform him if anyone noticed them as he focused on keeping his head down, stuck in his thoughts. His hands were shaking and his headache was not getting any better; his arms were also continuing to itch. He wondered if Diego still had his own headache and why he found himself in these sorts of situations. 

“Why now?” Diego asked after a few more minutes spent in silence, and when Klaus looked up and raised an eyebrow, he expanded, “When the end of the world was coming, I would have thought you’d be out partying and getting so high you forgot your own name.” Diego must have thought he was saying something offensive because he winced and muttered, “sorry.” 

He could have lied easily and made it out to be nothing, but he found himself telling the truth almost involuntarily. “I suppose I was tired of being pushed aside as the useless junkie brother who nobody takes seriously. Don’t get me wrong, I would much rather be numb again as opposed to having ghosts wailing at me constantly, but there’s a ghost I’m determined to conjure. What’s the point of having these stupid powers, if I can’t use them when I really need to?” 

Diego seemed oddly shocked by his answer while looking as if he was seeing him for the first time. Ben looked almost painfully proud of him. Diego nodded his head and said, “alright. Let me know if you need any help and I’ll be there.” His voice sounded almost choked. Klaus did not know how to reply, so he didn’t. 

Five minutes later, they arrived. The sunlight was rapidly disappearing, leaving only half-formed shadows, and the light from the moon. It was strange to look at the moon after everything that happened. Diego was right when he said that the place was low-quality. The sign had two functioning letters that still lit up, the main reception building’s roof had a hole in it and the windows were almost black with dirt. There was a rotten smell in the air that made him want to gag. 

Just from standing in front of the motel, Klaus could spot three different ghosts around the area, bloody and shrieking. He already hated this place. 

They neared the reception and Klaus took a deep breath, ready to put on a performance of a lifetime to get inside, if necessary. Diego readjusted Five on his shoulders and went to open the door. 

Inside, if possible, was worse. Trash surrounded the place and the floor creaked as they walked inside. The walls were all yellowed with age and the only light came from the lamp on the desk in front of them. 

The receptionist sat behind the desk, a brunet middle-aged man who looked well on his way to being drunk. He looked up at them and raised an eyebrow at how odd they must look. He had a bottle of some kind of beer and Klaus had to physically refrain from asking for some. 

“Can I help you?” His speech was slightly slurred, but still understandable. His eyes focused on to Klaus as soon as the man noticed him and the intensity of the stare made him uncomfortable, but he tried to keep the tension out of his face. Klaus supposed that Diego had a point. The whole place did not seem to have a big budget, or any budget at all, honestly; and was just a cheap place for hookers and serial killers to meet up with whoever, so getting inside might not be difficult. But Klaus knew better than to let his guard down. Ben stayed beside him, not taking his eyes off the man as if to make sure he did not have an army of masked shooters hidden underneath his desk. The events of that day left them all feeling paranoid, it seemed. 

“A room for three, please,” Diego answered, trying to seem as inconspicuous as possible while wearing an outfit that looked more fitting on the cover of a BDSM magazine rather than in a trashy motel. Klaus made sure his poker face did not slip and he hid his shaking hands behind his back. 

The man pulled up his chair and looked over the list of available rooms. “How long are you planning on staying?” He sounded bored. 

“A night or two.” 

“You will pay nightly upon checkout; I hope that’s alright with you; what name should I put you under?” He asked with the same deadpan, raspy voice. 

Diego and Klaus shared a look, quickly wondering what name they should use. Knowing Luther, he would sign the room under their family name, so Hargreeves was out of the question. The man still watched them with a deep look that was better described as a glare. Klaus was almost sure he heard cockroaches on the walls and that there was a stain that could very well be blood on the blank wall. He was just thankful that there were no ghosts inside that he could see. 

“Ah,” Klaus cleared his throat, his throbbing mind quickly coming up with random names and saying the first one he could think of, “Harrison.” He cringed inwardly about the stupid name, but went along with it, as if it was what he meant to say all along. “Put it under Harrison please, if you’d be so kind.” He gave the man his most charming smile that he perfected throughout the years. 

The man nodded, reached under the desk and took out a key. “Enjoy your stay. Your room is number 34.” Klaus reached out with his GOOD BYE hand and grabbed the key. As they turned to leave, the man called out, “Is the child yours?” 

Diego was quick to answer, turning his head to look at the man. “Our little brother.” He turned back and walked to the door, opening it and gesturing for Klaus to go first. 

The man did not look like he believed them, but shrugged regardless and replied, “fair enough. See you around.” 

They were quick to leave. 

-.-.- 

The motels weren’t any better. 

Some of them had broken windows and broken doors. The stairs had missing steps and the wood creaked by itself. It was almost fully dark and the ghosts only added to the creepy, horror movie aesthetic that this place had going on. Klaus had tried to joke about the vibe that he was getting from the place, but neither Ben nor Diego seemed to appreciate his comments. 

Klaus and Diego walked together, with Ben bringing up the rear, up the stairs to the third floor where their room was situated. The entire building brought unwanted memories of red and blue masks, and endless torture that Klaus had to drag back into the deep dark depths of his mind. Diego didn’t seem any better, with his rigid posture and clenched fists. 

Unlocking the door with a sweeping gesture and a bow, Klaus allowed Diego and Ben inside. Diego rolled his eyes but Ben just shook his head good-naturedly and entered after Diego. Klaus entered last, closing the door after himself and locking it. He turned to take in the room. 

This motel clearly didn’t pay their cleaning staff well, judging by the state of the room. It had three beds, as promised, but the sheets looked old and ugly. The curtains on the windows were half ripped off and the carpet had seen better days, being brown and aged. The brown wallpaper was peeling off in the corners and the air smelt of decay. He tried to turn on the lights with the switch he found beside the door, but nothing happened. 

The room was dark, and he could not see much else in the room other than two nightstands between the three beds, with lamps on top. Klaus walked up and turned on the lamps. Only one of them worked but it gave enough light into the room to make everything more visible. 

Klaus could now see the stains on the wall and on the ceiling, as well as the layers of dust covering the lamps. There stood a yellowed door across the room that led to the bathroom, and a cracked picture frame of the ocean decorated the wall. What really made the room, at least in Klaus’ opinion, were the two ghosts kneeling in the corner, looking young and bloody. 

Diego gave the room a look over, grimaced, and walked over to the farthest bed. Carefully, he placed Five down. With Klaus’ help, they soon had Five’s shoes off and Five under the covers. Klaus walked over to the bed next to him, and fell face down onto the bed. Then he sputtered and raised his head as the dirty wet smell of the covers hit his nostrils. Ben walked over and sat on the edge of the bed, looking around in disgust. Diego stretched his arms over his head after carrying Five for so long and turned back towards the room at large. 

Walking around the place, Diego checked the bathroom, front door, and windows. Nobody said a work and once the silence stretched long enough, Klaus turned and laid his head on the flat pillow so he could look at the ceiling. He said conversationally, “did you know at least two people died in this room? One was shot in the stomach from what I gather, and the other has a knife imbedded in her head. Isn’t that great?” He checked his nails and found that he would need to find a way to repaint them soon. He started scratching at his arms again. 

Diego stopped what he was doing and looked over to Klaus. “There are ghosts in here?” He looked around the room as if he could see them. 

“Oh yeah,” he said dryly, still holding up his hand. “They are ghosts everywhere. There were three just wandering outside the building. There are dozens more in this building, I'd bet. There are two in this room. Three, if you count Ben. He’s sitting at the edge of the bed.” 

Ben waved again, and Diego nodded towards his direction. 

Diego looked as if he didn’t know how to reply. He kept opening and closing his mouth until he just gave up and went back to what he was doing. Klaus honestly did not know what it was that he was doing. Maybe checking to see how sturdy the door was. 

Finally, he asked softly, “are they saying anything?” 

“No,” Klaus said. “Nothing understandable, anyway. They are over by the corner, crying their eyes out and muttering to themselves. I don’t think they noticed I can see them. Once they do, they will start bothering me,” he sighed and turned to his side, supporting his head with his hand and elbow. “The ghosts seem to think I can bring them back to life or something, just because I can see them.” 

“Do they all bother you like that?” 

“When I can see them, yes. It’s horribly distracting.” 

“Can you not make them stop?” Diego asked, looking concerned. “Block them out?” 

“Nah. Not unless I stop my powers from working.” 

“Is- Is that why you started getting high?” 

“Among other things.” Diego looked like he wanted to ask more but Klaus made sure his tone suggested that he did not want to talk about it. He just wanted to fill the silence, not start a conversation about his powers and his drug addiction. 

Diego walked over and sat down on the bed closest to the door. “Fair enough. So now we wait for the others.” He switched topics. “Once we make sure that they got in, we can sleep.” He looked tired, with his messy hair and heavy eyes. Klaus felt tired too, after the day he had. Who would have thought that trying to save the world, failing and getting stuck nearly forty years in the past would drain all of one’s energy? What Klaus wouldn’t give for a nice, long and hot bath. Preferably with bubbles. And scented candles. 

“I would take a bath, but I doubt his place has warm water. Or clean water, for that matter,” Klaus shrugged his shoulders, and fell back on the bed to stare at the dirty ceiling with leak stains again. “Plus, I have nothing to change into.” They were stuck in the past, with no money, no extra clothes, no food, no plan. Why did anyone think this was a good idea? Klaus would make a corny comment that_ at least they are all together_, but he would probably laugh hysterically or throw up a little if he did. 

“Good point.” Diego answered, but he sounded distracted. 

The silence spread between them yet again, and Klaus was getting quite sick of it. “I can’t believe we’re in the 1980s.” 

Klaus could hear Diego snort. “Believe me, I know. When the guy told me the date, I thought he was messing with me,” he laughed humorlessly. “He must have thought I was crazy when I asked for the real date.” Klaus then heard Diego try and stifle a yawn. 

“I can imagine.” He muttered back. 

Ben decided to join the conversation after staying quiet for so long and said, “I don’t think Five intended for us to end up here. There is nothing for us to change when none of us even exist yet.” 

Klaus hummed, sitting up to look over at Ben, drawing in Diego’s attention once more. “Yeah, I suppose not. Not much we can do until he wakes up.” He tried to lighten the mood a little. “At least this is something to tick off the bucket list, don’t you think?_ Survive the literal end of the world and travel back nearly four decades_.” He laughed at himself to try and take the tension out of his shoulders. 

“Yeah,” Ben replied casually, not finding his comments funny. Asshole. He changed the subject and said, “I hope Vanya wakes up soon. She will be so frightened. I hope this won’t overwhelm her too much.” 

Klaus yawned. “I just hope she won’t wake up when she’s with Luther and Allison. Allison can’t speak and Luther was the one who locked her up,” Klaus paused for a moment before continuing. “I think Five could manage to calm her down. They were close before he disappeared.” 

“Yeah,” Ben nodded and didn’t seem to have more to say. 

After Klaus took off his bowling shoes and started debating whether he should just ignore everyone and try to sleep now, they heard footsteps outside their door. Diego stood up immediately, grabbed a knife just in case, and went up to the door. He unlocked their door slowly and carefully looked outside, with the knife firmly in his hand, ready to throw it if necessary. Klaus watched him with disinterest and one eye open. 

After Diego confirmed who it was, he brought a finger to his mouth and opened the door fully. He gestured for Allison and Luther, who still carried Vanya, to enter inside. Luther did not even seem tired from carrying Vanya all this way. Klaus waved with his HELLO hand once the door closed behind them, and gave them all a lazy grin. “Glad you could make it.” Allison gave him a small smile in greeting before looking back to Diego. Luther did not even glance his way. 

“What’s your room number?” Diego asked, straight to business. He seemed to want nothing more than to go to sleep. Klaus could relate. 

“39.” 

“Wait,” Klaus called out. “What did you sign your name under?” 

“Hargreeves,” Luther replied slowly, as if wondering if that was a trick question. Klaus shared a look with Ben and silently cheered for calling it. Diego rolled his eyes. Luther decided to continue, ignoring his cheeky grin. “We should try to get as much sleep as we can, so that we can start figuring this situation out tomorrow.” 

Diego nodded, “yeah yeah. We were gonna do that anyway.” He did not seem to have any more patience to deal with Luther, as he cut the conversation short. “Okay, we’ll meet up again in the morning. Now get the hell out.” He opened the door and gestured for them to leave. 

“Goodnight,” Luther called out before leaving with Allison, who waved at them and mouthed a quick goodbye. Diego closed and locked the door again, closed what remained of the curtains and sat down onto his bed to begin taking off his shoes. 

Klaus took the time to head to the bathroom, which was just as dirty as the main room. The sink and the shower were brown with dirt and there was a moldy rug on the tiled floor. He was pretty sure he saw a colony of spiders in the corner. The light flickered overhead while he washed his hands. He was correct about this motel having no warm water. At least the plumbing and light worked, but that was all there was for the positives. 

“Well, this ended up being one hell of a day,” he sighed as he walked back to the main room and took off his army vest. He placed it carefully on the hanger on the door and walked over to the bed he had claimed as his own. He could not make himself take off his dog tags. He needed to have it around his neck, to ground him. Diego seemed to be taking off his knives and straps and placing the knives within reach on the nightstand. 

He crawled under the covers. They were itchy and scratchy on his skin and smelled of moldy socks, but he had to make do. The texture of the covers made his itchiness worse and Klaus bit down a groan. Ben seemed content with staying at the end of his bed and Klaus was not going to make him move. Let the creep watch him sleep, he was used to it by now. 

Diego stretched his arms and finally got under the covers, moving around to try and get comfortable. 

“I hope you don’t still snore in your sleep,” Diego muttered teasingly. 

“Oh please, brother of mine. You know very well that I don’t snore in my sleep. I sleep like an angel. You, on the other hand, snore like a bear,” Klaus said, remembering their sleepovers very well. “You might even manage to wake up Five with your snores.” 

“You do snore in your sleep,” Ben felt inclined to comment. 

Klaus hissed at him, and said without any malice, “no one asked for your opinion, Casper.” 

Diego seemed to be thinking hard about something, only speaking after a moment of hard contemplation. “What if Five snores in his sleep?” Klaus was too busy trying to block out the ghosts in the corner and it took him a moment to register what his brother said. Klaus looked towards where Five was sleeping, not a peep out of him since they landed, and shrugged. 

“Then you and him could have a snoring contest,” Klaus replied immediately. “Ben and I could be the judges. Winner has to buy me dinner.” Klaus could see Ben rolling his eyes as he leaned back on the bed. “You would be a judge with me, wouldn’t you Ben?” 

Ben did not grace him with an answer. 

“Sure.” Diego chuckled lowly and reached out to turn off the lamp. Darkness spread around the room and Klaus froze as if his very blood turned to ice. 

He found his voice after he awkwardly cleared his throat. “Could you keep the light on?” 

The light came back a second later with a click. 

Klaus sighed in relief. “Thank you.” 

“Night Klaus. Night Ben, glad to have you back.” 

“G’night Dee. Goodnight Benjamin.” 

“Goodnight.” 

And so, Klaus eventually managed to fall into a restless sleep to the sounds of two ghosts wailing and the sound of his brothers’ even breathing. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From my research, the series was filmed in Toronto and Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. And because i was not able to find any information on where the story is meant to be set, I decided to make the show set in Canada.


	2. dawn disputes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *Five and Vanya have entered the chat*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beware that this chapter (and story in general) has a hell of a lot of dialogue in it.

CHAPTER II

Klaus ended up waking multiple times during the night, his skin clammy and stomach in knots. The old mattress dug springs into his back, causing him to move around consistently to try and find a comfortable position as the loud wailing of the ghosts prevented him from being able to relax. He almost missed Diego cursing at him to stop moving so much. 

The one time he actually managed to fall into a dreamless doze, he quickly snapped awake with a sudden hit of nausea crawling up his throat and had to stagger to the bathroom to cough his empty guts out. His stomach contracted so violently that his entire throat burned and his eyes watered while he heaved over the toilet bowl, clutching the edges hard enough to make his fingers hurt. 

Both of his brothers came in to check on him, trying to talk to him but nothing they said registered in his head. He startled from head to toe when Diego placed a hand on his shoulder and he pushed him aside, attempting to mumble for Diego to just go away. The last thing he wanted was anyone touching him and he just wished to be left alone to rot in his misery. 

It was a long time before he was able to go back to bed, covered in a layer of sweat and the acidic taste of bile still remaining in his mouth as he didn’t have a toothbrush or even a water bottle to get rid of it. He felt disgusting and angry and just wished he could somehow melt into the floor. Getting Diego and Ben off his back took even longer, and he had to pretend to be exhausted for them to chill the fuck out and leave him alone to sleep. 

He spent the rest of the night staring at the ceiling, no longer able to even try to get any rest and having a dawning, bone-chilling realization of just where – and when – he was. The realization that he got stranded years in the past, _again_. Only this time, he ended up with his estranged family that, prior to their father’s death, he hadn’t seen in _years__. _He almost threw up again then and there. 

At least when he was in Vietnam, he had the briefcase and could have returned at any time. Now, he got stuck here because his darling sister blew up the moon and he did not have any way out until his psycho of a brother decided to wake up. He tossed and turned and buried his head into the scratchy pillow in the hopes of suffocating himself long enough to silence his thoughts and preferably just die to get rid of his shitty withdrawals. He missed the numbness his drugs guaranteed with each passing minute, as they at least prevented him from thinking too hard about anything for long. 

He decided to get up, feeling more tired than when he went to sleep, when the sun finally brought some natural light into the room. He reached out to turn off the lamp and watched as the sunlight showered the room with warm hues of orange and yellow. The morning breeze made the room feel chilly, causing him to shiver slightly with goosebumps spreading over his exposed skin. 

Greeting him once he pushed himself upright with his elbows, was the sight of Diego aggressively digging a hole into the carpet with his pacing. Klaus did not know that he was even awake. His shoulders were tense, he held two knives in his grip, still had his bed hair, and the eyebags under his eyes suggested that his brother did not get any more sleep than he did. Klaus could almost convince himself that he was hallucinating, as he had never seen his brother like this, but Diego stayed like that even after he shook himself a little and rubbed his eyes with his fists. Klaus guessed that Diego was having an extremely angsty brooding session. 

Ben stood against the wall across from his bed, looking more disheveled than Klaus ever remembered seeing him. Five was still dead to the world and Klaus did not think he even moved during the night. The ghosts from last night stayed in the corner, still crying loudly and Klaus had stopped hoping that they were going to stop anytime soon. 

He shifted and pulled his feet off the bed and onto the floor, his bare feet touching the carpet. He nodded towards Ben in greeting, stretching his arms until his bones cracked satisfyingly. Ben asked him how he was feeling and Klaus just waved him off as he yawned and pushed himself off of the bed to walk to the bathroom. He ended up splashing some cold water on his face to get rid of the remaining tiredness that was still clinging on. 

Returning to the main room after he dried his face, Klaus saw that Diego continued pacing. He turned towards Ben and asked, “has he been doing that for long?” Diego did not seem to notice him at all, looking like he was on a whole other planet. 

“Hasn’t stopped pacing since he woke up,” Ben replied simply, before turning to him again. “Are you sure you’re okay?” 

“Yes, Ben. I’m just peachy.” He walked towards Diego. Klaus yawned again, cleared his throat and said, “Uh, Diego?” Diego just kept pacing. He raised his voice and tried again. “Earth to Diego, do you copy? Hello!” Diego finally came back to the present when Klaus snapped his fingers in front of his face. He stopped in his place and turned towards him. Klaus smiled at him. “Oh! Welcome back!” 

Diego blinked at him once he saw him. “Oh, I didn’t know you were up.” He looked down at himself, to the knives in his hands, then back to Klaus. He looked him up and down critically, “how do you feel?” 

“Fine,” Klaus muttered as he walked back to his bed, wanting to forget his whole night. “How long have you been like that?” He sat crisscrossed in the middle of the bed, his elbows resting on his thighs. He supported his head on his hands lazily. 

“Not long.” Diego responded nonchalantly. “Five minutes. Maybe ten, max.” He walked over to the window and pushed open the curtains, letting more light into the room. 

“Longer than half an hour, I’d say.” Ben countered from where he stood. 

Klaus hummed. “Ben says that you’re a dirty little liar.” He winked at Ben, who winked back. 

Diego scowled and glanced around the room, probably thinking that if he glared hard enough, he could make Ben materialize in front of him to make him own up to his sins. “Not even back for one day and you’re already a traitor, huh? I see how it is.” He walked back over to his bed, which was messy and unmade, and dropped down. 

Ben did not look the least bit apologetic. 

“So,” Klaus said once Diego was situated on the bed, sitting on one leg and the other leaned over the side. “What were you thinking so hard about?” Diego reached out and placed the two knives back on the nightstand with the others. 

He regretted asking the very second Diego opened his mouth to answer. He started rambling about how he nearly drove himself into a panic while he was thinking about their need for a plan, that they needed money, supplies and clothes and how he still could not wrap his head around the fact that they were in the 80s after watching the world end. Diego then proceeded to say that he did not know how to process that Mom and Pogo were gone. 

Klaus tried to pay attention, he really did, humming and nodding in all the right places but eventually his mind drifted off. He could not help but think about how badly his body was craving some pills and how he could still feel traces of his headache from yesterday at the back of his skull and the acid on his tongue. He wondered if anyone would notice if he went off to find some dealers in the area. He could probably pick-pocket some unfortunate soul on the street to pay for it. He did not know what he was thinking when he decided to go sober. 

Finally, Diego must have asked him a question as he snapped at him, “well?” It knocked him out of his sweet thoughts of sneaking out and getting high and into reality, looking at his brother’s tired and scowling face. 

Clapping his hands, Klaus sent him a cheeky smile. “I totally agree, brother dearest.” 

Diego looked at him flatly, “I asked whether you had any suggestions.” 

“Ah, yes, of course.” Klaus cleared his throat. He looked towards Ben for help but he had an equally flat look on his face as he left him on his own. Time to improvise. He took his arms off of his knees and gestured widely. “So, I was thinking huge disco balls and fancy fairy lights. Maybe some banners. Some glitter, too.” He paused. “Actually, no glitter. I snorted some glitter when I was high once and it put me off. Made me feel woozy. But we could have confetti instead. And, a whole DJ stand!” He exclaimed excitingly. “Oh! Can I be the DJ? Please? Pretty please with a cherry on top?” 

“What?” Diego had a look of utter confusion on his face, and Klaus sworn he saw his eye twitch from irritation. 

“I asked whether I could be the DJ,” Klaus replied, as if it were obvious. “Keep up. Where was I? Oh yeah. DJ Klaus has a nice ring to it, don’t you think? Everyone would want to hire me. I could have some headphones around my neck and awesome sunglasses on my face! And. . . what else do DJs have?” 

“What the hell are you talking about?” 

He frowned. “Are we not talking about organizing our next birthday party? I could have sworn-” He looked over at Ben. He had his arms crossed over his chest and looked like he could see straight through what Klaus was doing and was done with his bullshit. He even shook his head when he saw Klaus looking at him, the prick. 

"Huh? No, no what the hell?” Diego had another scowl on his face, this one directed straight at him. He sat up straighter on his bed. “Why would you even think-, how-, were you even listening to anything I was saying? I asked whether you had any suggestions on ways we could get clean clothes.” 

“Oh,” Klaus frowned with a deadpan tone and brushed him off. “Boring.” 

“Boring?” Diego repeated, looking like he was trying hard to not get angry. “Klaus, this isn’t a joke. We need new clothes if we are to stay here.” 

“Yeah, I _know _that,” Klaus rolled his eyes. “Doesn’t make it any less boring.” Ben groaned into his hands. Klaus thought he was acting dramatic. 

“Klaus.” Diego took a deep breath to steady himself and continued. “You told me yesterday that you were tired of us not taking you seriously,” he spoke slowly, making sure Klaus got every word. “Well, now I’m giving you a chance to have a say and free reign to help plan our next plan of action. Are you really going to throw that back in my face?” 

_ Oh. _Klaus groaned and ran his hands over his hair, messing it up even more. “Okay, okay. Look. I'm sorry,” Diego’s face softened a little. “I just can’t concentrate very well right now when my entire body is aching.” He looked down at his lap and fidgeted with the hem of his top to help with his discomfort. “The ghosts have not stopped crying since we got here. They are driving me crazy and I'm quickly running out of patience. I honestly don’t know if I can handle being sober for much longer.” He looked up and continued, “I’m sorry I drifted off. Thanks for letting me have a say.” Then, to Ben, “are you happy now? You can stop looking at me like that.” And finally, he muttered, “asshole,” towards Ben under his breath just because he could. 

Ben gave him a nod of approval. Klaus hated how much he appreciated it. He was not used to having such personal conversations with any of his siblings, not including Ben. At least, not since they all left. A part of him felt uncomfortable about opening up to Diego after they grew apart. But after the wild week they had together, with fighting a bunch of asshole veterans, stealing an ice-cream truck and trying to stop the apocalypse, Klaus found himself getting close to Diego all over again. 

Diego’s scowl got replaced with a look of understanding and he nodded. “I get it. As I said, I know it’s not easy. You got me worried last night.” Klaus was about to reply when Diego opened his mouth again, smirking. “But don’t worry. I won’t let you go back to drugs, even if I have to physically restrain you. I like the sober you.” 

Barking out a laugh, Ben turned to him with a shit-eating grin on his face and smugness basically radiating off of him. “See? What did I tell you?” 

He groaned, flopping backwards on the bed and staring at the ceiling as if it contained the secrets to life itself. “Goddammit, Diego.” 

“What?” He heard him say. 

“Ben said the exact same thing. He’s being a little shit about it now.” 

“Well, you should just accept that I’m always right,” Ben added, somehow managing to sound both serious and teasing at the same time. 

“Oh,” Diego replied. By the tone of his voice, Klaus could guess that he was smirking still. “Now you stand no chance. Ben and I will drag you into permanent sobriety.” Klaus groaned again. “Plus, didn’t you say that Ben punched you in the face when you went to take drugs again? Well, next time you think about running off to get high, it will be me punching you. And no offense to Ben, but my punches will hurt three times more. So, take that as motivation to stay sober. I’m not letting you keep poisoning yourself.” 

Klaus looked up and saw that Ben did not seem offended in the slightest. He kept on nodding to Diego’s speech. He raised an eyebrow at him and Ben shrugged, “what? It’s not like I had any punching practice in years.” 

Dropping his head back down, he muttered, “whatever.” Diego followed his example and dropped back onto his bed, also facing the ceiling. Silence stretched between them until Klaus called out, seemingly out of nowhere, “clothing bins.” 

He could hear Diego shift on his bed, “what?” 

“You wanted a suggestion on a way to get clothes.” Klaus explained while he saw realization dawning on Ben. “When I was on the streets and needed some clothes but had no money, I would go to these bins. People would drop off their old and unwanted clothes and shoes and they would be recycled and given to charity and homeless people. We could go there.” 

His brother did not reply for a few moments, until he asked hesitantly, “did you do that often?” 

“Do what?” 

“Get your clothes from these bins.” 

“Eh,” Klaus shrugged and replied nonchalantly. “I went a few times. Didn’t want to freeze to death in the winter. Frostbite totally doesn’t match my leather pants.” 

“Why didn’t you reach out?” Diego wondered aloud. “I would have helped you.” 

“You say that _now, _after we’ve had some quality bro time, both before and after the end of the world,” Klaus responded quietly, rolling his eyes. “Before then we didn’t talk in years.” 

“So?” 

Klaus blinked, raising his head to look at Diego. “Are you telling me that if I came to your house, say five years ago, and asked you for some money, you would have given it to me?” 

“Not money, no,” Diego answered after a moment to think. “I’d have known that you would have spent it on drugs, even if you needed clothes. I wouldn’t have funded your addiction. But if you said you needed clothes, or a couch to sleep on, I would have helped you. I would.” He sounded determined and convinced of what he said, but Klaus still felt doubtful. “I had old clothes I could have given you.” 

He almost scoffed. “Really?” 

“Yes, really,” Diego sounded offended. “I don’t know whether it slipped your mind, but you’re my brother. You were my best friend, back before we left. You may test my patience, but you’re still my family.” His voice seemed choked, like he was sharing something personal. 

Klaus had a petty urge to remind Diego of when he just left Klaus on the streets to fend for himself, or the time he got kidnapped and no one, not even Diego, noticed. But Klaus suppressed the urge, asking instead, “is that why you always gave us a ride?” 

“Yeah.” Diego let out a small wet chuckle. “You always managed to make the car rides more interesting.” 

“Is that your way of saying that I'm your favourite brother?” Klaus teased, wanting to steer the conversation away from the deep, emotional shit he was way too sober for. 

“Who else is it going to be? The monkey man or the grandpa?” 

“It could be the ghost.” 

Diego paused for a moment. “Well then, for all it’s worth, you’re my favourite living brother,” he admitted and Klaus felt surprisingly lighter than he had in days. His eyes began to sting. “Don’t let that go to your head, though. You’re still an idiot. I’m only saying that to let you know that not all of us think you’re useless.” 

“Aww Diego!” Klaus cooed. He sat up and gave his brother a big, charming smile, trying to distract himself from how wet his eyes were getting. Damn withdrawal was making his emotions all over the place, the last thing he needed right now was to start bawling his eyes out. Ben watched the both of them with an amused grin, enjoying the show, while Diego was beginning to look fondly exasperated. “You do have a heart after all! Ben, did you hear that? I’m his favourite! Me!” 

“Congratulations,” drawled Ben.” “Would you like a sticker?” 

“I’ll take ten, please.” Klaus stuck out his tongue at him. Ben stuck his right back. 

“Don’t make me regret it,” Diego warned, pointing a finger at him. 

“I wouldn’t dare, brother dearest.” Klaus responded in a sing-song tone. “Y’know, you’re my favourite living brother, too.” 

Klaus could see the smile on Diego’s face as he joked, “I better be. After all the shit you made me deal with.” 

A comfortable silence spread between the two of them as Klaus laid back down and blinked his tears away. It was pleasant to just exist for a while with his brothers, not having to say anything. He was no hurry to break the peace. He knew that Luther and Allison would arrive soon, and that Five and Vanya could wake up at any time and everything would get complicated and tense, so he just wanted to enjoy the small tranquility now. 

Diego broke the silence a few moments later. “Hey. I have a question.” 

“Go on.” 

“I’m not fully sure I want to know,” Diego said. “But did you really snort glitter?” 

Instead of replying, he just looked up and giggled at the heavens. 

-.-.- 

As they tried to sleep as soon as the sun set, and got up once the sun rose, it was still terribly early by the time Luther and Allison decided to grace them with their presence. 

They knocked on their door, entering with a still unconscious Vanya in Luther’s arms. Neither of them seemed to have gotten much sleep, either. Allison’s hair appeared to be knotting, pulled up into a messy and uneven bun on the top of her head with stray hairs framing her face. She slouched when she waved at them in greeting. Luther looked downright frazzled, with his wrinkled clothes and gray face. He grumbled a good morning to them once he entered. 

Luther placed Vanya gently onto Diego’s bed while Diego got up to make room for her. He moved towards the only remaining bed, ending up sitting right beside Klaus. Their shoulders touched with Klaus cross-legged in the middle and Diego at the side, legs leaning over the end. 

Allison leaned against the wall, crossing her arms over her chest. She ended up right beside Ben with a tense expression on her face. Luther stayed standing in front of Vanya’s bed, his eyes glancing to and from everyone in the room and looking like he did not know where to start. 

While the others were drowning in their awkward silence, Klaus looked at his unconscious sister. He thought how hard it was to believe the power she had locked away, buzzing and bubbling just under the surface, yet never allowed to be unleashed. He hoped that she would be back to normal once she awoke and no longer prepared to kill all of them. He never wanted to see her in that all-white get-up with the hallowed eyes ever again. 

Poor Vanya was pure proof of how much of an asshole their father truly was. Will be? Time travel was confusing. Reggie attempted to put together a group of super-powered children, to train them for something bigger than themselves and to save the world, while being the one that triggered the end of the world to begin with. And he still thought he was doing the right thing, until the very end. 

Now that Klaus thought about it, it felt strange to have the whole academy crammed in this small, shitty motel room. Everyone else could only see six people spread out around the room, but Klaus saw nine. For such a tiny room, it seemed suffocating. He really wanted to open a window and let some fresh air in. 

“First things first.” Luther cleared his throat finally, causing Klaus to look over to him. “Klaus. Is Ben still here?” 

Klaus was still getting used to being asked about Ben. He rested his elbows on his knees and pointed to Ben, regardless. “Yeah. Over there, beside Allison.” Allison snapped her head towards Ben, before looking right back as if to make sure he wasn’t pulling her leg. 

Ben waved awkwardly, turning his head towards Klaus to admit, “I really don’t know what to do in these situations. Uh- tell them I said hi.” 

“He greets everyone,” he repeated. “Very awkwardly, may I add,” he added cheekily, just to try and dissolve some of the tension. Ben rolled his eyes and Klaus winked at him. Allison smiled sadly at the space beside her, and mouthed a greeting at Ben. 

Luther nodded. “We should start planning.” He stood in the middle of the room, an imposing figure with his huge arms and shoulders. He could probably snap Klaus in half with one finger. 

“What about Five and Vanya?” Diego asked, nodding towards their two unconscious siblings. “Five’s not awake yet. I thought we were meant to wait until he wakes up, as he’s the deciding factor.” 

“Yes,” Luther answered. “But we need to figure out what we should do. We’re in completely new territory and in a completely different time. The sooner we have a plan, the better. We will include the others once they decide to wake up.” 

“Alright then, Number One,” Diego muttered sarcastically, flippantly gesturing for Luther to get on with it. “What shall we do, oh humble leader?” 

“Diego, please, don’t start.” Luther eyed him, looking drained. “Now’s really not the time.” 

“I’m not starting anything. I’m telling you to get on with it,” Diego crossed his arms. “Or are you just going to stand there?” 

“Yes, I'm planning to get on with it.” 

“Then what are you waiting for?” 

“Is there a reason you’re so pissed off, or it is just to annoy me?” Luther snapped, getting irritated. “Because there are way more important things right now.” Diego opened his mouth to reply and probably start a fight, but Klaus elbowed him sharply in the side. He agreed that there are more important things to be focusing on right now. Afterwards, Diego could fight Luther all he wanted and Klaus would happily cheer him on, but not right now. Klaus knew how much Diego enjoyed butting heads with Luther and hoped that he could keep his cool for a bit longer. Diego did end up staying quiet, gesturing for Luther to get to a point, of which Klaus was grateful. Luther sighed, and seemed to be gathering the remains of his patience. “Fine, I think our first course of action should be to get some food. We’re all hungry and will function better on a full stomach.” 

“Sounds good,” Klaus said when Diego stayed silent. The thought of eating anything made his stomach twist painfully. He would probably just bring anything he ate right back up, but decided to keep the conversation going. “How are we going to do that?” 

“Well, firstly we need money.” 

That should be simple. “I could easily get us some money.” Klaus raised his HELLO hand, bringing the room’s attention to himself. It would take him approximately five minutes to find a target and take their wallet. 

“How?” Luther raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. “Stealing?” 

“Well, yeah,” Klaus replied, not understanding his point. He raised his own eyebrows. “Do you have any better ideas? Do you expect money to just drop from the sky?” 

“We can’t just steal. Unlike you, we aren’t a bunch of common thieves.” Ben snapped to attention and seemed to take personal offense to Luther’s comment. Ben and Klaus shared a glance from across the room. 

Klaus blinked and frowned back at Luther. He knew that Diego was itching to intervene, but Klaus replied before he had the chance. “Hey excuse you, _y__ou_ won’t be doing anything. _I_ will. Then _I’ll_ treat all of us to a good meal at some fancy restaurant, or something. It’s not complicated.” 

Diego apparently could not stay silent any longer, and exclaimed, “please, Luther. If you have any alternate suggestions, we’d love to hear them.” Klaus was not sure if he should be surprised that the Batman-esque vigilante of their group agreed with him about stealing some poor dude’s cash, but appreciated it regardless. 

“We could get a job?” Luther suggested, though it sounded like he was asking a question. 

“A job?” Diego scoffed. “And how are you planning on getting employed when none of us legally exist yet and therefore, have no IDs. No valid driver's license. No birth certificates. No nothing. And also, we don’t even know how long we’ll be staying here. We could be leaving tomorrow for all we know.” 

Klaus raised his HELLO hand once again, probably adding fuel to the fire. “I'm sure I can get everyone some fake forms. I know how to find the right people. It would cost a lot, though. And it’s definitely more illegal than stealing.” 

“There you have it,” Diego said, shrugging his shoulders. “We can either steal and be done with it, or go through the trouble of forging forms that will require us to steal anyway to afford them.” 

“Why are you so willing to break the law?” Luther asked as if Diego did not spend the last however many years operating outside of the law in order to be a vigilante. Klaus just thought that it was tragic, how separated Luther ended up. Klaus thought back to Luther confessing how much he wanted to be Number Four and sighed. “We are supposed to stop crime, not partake in it.” 

“Luther, grow up. We aren’t children anymore. Desperate times call for desperate measures,” Diego replied scathingly. Klaus elbowed him again to make him shut up but Diego ignored him and taunted, “which you would know if you weren’t still under Dad’s conditioning.” Klaus blew a raspberry. At least Ben couldn’t say he didn’t try and prevent a fight. 

“I’m not under-, why would you even say that?” 

“Not thinking you’re under his conditioning is exactly what being under his conditioning would make you think!” Diego pointed out slowly, enunciating every word. He stood up from the bed and walked towards Luther. “I get that you think you’re free from him after finding out about your mission to the moon, but you can’t erase years of brainwashing in a few days. The rest of us had years to find ourselves. If Dad materialized in this room right now and gave us orders, you would still follow them, no questions asked. You said you were done with Dad, but yesterday you proved the exact opposite and wanted to run back to him.” 

“What are you saying?” Luther demanded through clenched teeth. Klaus wondered how most family meetings turn into fights between Luther and Diego. Allison and Ben looked thoroughly done with their antics. He flopped backwards onto the bed with a dramatic sigh and brought his hands up to his face, digging his palms into his eyes. “What does this have anything to do with our situation?” 

“What I’m saying is that you need to start thinking things for yourself. Dad’s dead. Or, at least our Dad is. His damage is done, but you need to learn to move on.” Diego explained, his voice was confident and loud, making it travel around the room. “Stop spouting Dad’s words and defending him when he has done nothing to deserve that kind of loyalty from you.” 

“But-” 

“I mean, he taught the six of us twelve different ways to kill an armed man with anything we had on hand when we were ten. We all killed people on missions as _children _and you’re drawing the line at _stealing_? Especially when we don’t have any other choice? Stop being Dad’s perfect little soldier for a minute and think for yourself.” 

“I mean-, I don’t-, what does-” 

Luther was not able to form a full sentence, all but spluttering in reply. Klaus really wished he had some popcorn to snack on as he kept his eyes closed. He was getting tired of continuously listening to those two arguing. Before Luther could formulate a coherent response, and before Diego could have another go at him, a new voice was heard. 

“Christ, do you idiots ever shut up?” Five’s grouchy and tired voice rang out across the room, causing every head to turn in his direction. He seemed to have woken up only moments before, squinting against the light of the room. He sat up in his bed and took in his surroundings with half opened and unfocused eyes. His hair, that was usually styled perfectly, looked messy and fluffy. Klaus could spot the exact moment that Five remembered yesterday's events as his eyes widened, he shot up straight, examined the room and exclaimed, “what the fuck? What happened? Why are we in some shithole?” 

“Welcome back to the land of the living, old man,” Klaus greeted cheerfully, waving at him. He was grateful to have a distraction. He sat back up and said, “we must have crash landed.” 

“What do you mean by that?” Five snapped, and _wow, _not even awake for a minute and he already had an attitude. _Okay then._

“What Klaus is trying to say,” Diego took over, his fight with Luther put on the backburner for the time being. “Is that we must have ended up in the wrong time, unless it was your plan all along to drop us off here. We decided to come here for a place to sleep.” 

Five seemed to be processing the information. “What’s the date? The exact date? And where are we, exactly?” 

“May 12th, 1982. Minnesota, America.” Diego replied. 

“Motherfucker,” Five hissed, scrambling to get out of bed. He struggled to get steady on his feet before patting down all of his pockets and pulling out a marker from one in the front. He looked around before walking over to the nearest plain wall and taking the cap off the marker. Beginning to scribble some complicated equations onto the wall, he distractedly mumbled to himself. “What the hell happened? I could not have miscalculated that badly.” He paused. “Unless there was a time vortex I did not take into consideration-” 

“You were passed out when we landed,” Klaus supplied, his legs pulled up to his chest. Everyone in the room looked on edge, all tense shoulders and straight backs as the squeak of Five’s marker filled the silence. 

Realization dawned on Five a few moments later. “Shit, the strain of transporting so many people must have knocked me out. We must have gotten dropped off in the first random location after I passed out. We are about a decade off target. Goddamnit!” 

“Can’t you just transport us back?” Luther asked once he could form a sentence again. 

“Not if I keep passing out during the travel, I can’t,” he sounded hesitant to admit this, continuing to fill up the wall. He looked back over at where everyone else was located. “We would just end up in another random time and place. Did Vanya wake up yet? Where is she?” Klaus leaned back, allowing Five to see Vanya still asleep on the last bed. Klaus was impressed that she did not wake up with all this noise. Five nodded, satisfied and went back to whatever it was he was writing. Finally, after Klaus nearly broke the silence by telling them about the time he tried acupuncture with lollipop sticks, Five looked back at them and asked, “so why are we here?” 

“T’was the easiest place to get into,” Diego said. “We needed a place to stay the night.” 

“It’s a little shady,” Klaus added, nodding and picking at his nails. “But it does the job.” 

“So, what you’re telling me,” Five hissed, condescension dripping from his voice like a sponge as he put the cap back on the marker and turned to face them, “is that we get dropped off in a random time and place, and the first thing you do is go get a motel?” His glare could have melted steel. “Did anyone see you? Did you check if you were followed? People could be watching us right now and you have the curtains open, I can’t believe this!” Five stomped towards the window and yanked the ruined curtains closed with more force than necessary. He looked every bit like a child throwing a temper tantrum. The room got a shade darker. “None of you are going to last a day preventing the apocalypse like this!” 

“Why would people be spying on us?” Luther asked, furrowing his eyebrows. Klaus did not allow Five to answer. He interrupted as Five opened his mouth and voiced the question that just popped into his head. 

“But do we have to prevent the apocalypse?” Klaus asked casually. “Why can’t we just, I dunno, live out the rest of our days here? Surely, we’ll learn how to fit in sooner or later. I know about two slang words from the 80s, but I'll pick them up quickly, I'm sure. The apocalypse doesn’t happen until 2019 so we have,” he did the math in his head, “thirty-seven years to live out our lives. By then we’ll all be old and wrinkly so we can just die along with everyone else.” Klaus explained simply. “Some of us don’t want to play the hero anymore.” 

“You know nobody is going to agree with you,” Ben said. Klaus looked over to wave off his comments like a particularly annoying fly. 

“Klaus!” Luther scolded, looking disappointed. “How could you even suggest something like that?” 

“Yup,” Ben continued. “There it is.” 

“What?” Klaus defended with a roll of his eyes. “That’s a valid option! We already tried preventing the apocalypse, twice. And we failed both times, even with Five with us. Why would this attempt end any differently?” 

“None of you get it, do you?” Five growled through gritted teeth. “All of you are useless!” 

“What are we not getting, exactly?” Diego asked, gruffly. 

“That there will be no ‘living out the rest of our days.’ Not anymore.” 

They all just blinked at him blankly. 

Five took a deep breath. “From the moment you all got involved with the apocalypse, the Commission saw you as threats to the timeline. That’s why they sent the shooters to the bowling alley and the theatre. That was why Hazel and Cha-Cha were after me. They wanted to make sure I did not change what is supposed to happen,” he took a seat on the bed again, facing all of them as he explained. “There is a huge target on all of our backs. Now that we are years in the past, the Commission will know we will try to change the timeline and they are not just going to let us walk away with it. They will do everything in their power to ensure that Vanya destroys the moon each and every time. Our Vanya already did her job so she’s no longer of any use to the Commission. But the Vanya that’s going to be born in seven years? She’s important. They will hunt us down to every corner of the globe to ensure that the timeline stays the same and Vanya is not influenced. From now on, you better get used to looking over your shoulders and sleeping with one eye open, because there’s no going back now as the Commission won’t stop until every last one of us is dead.” 

The silence that followed Five’s speech was so cold that Klaus felt it in every inch of his bones. He stared at Five with wide eyes as panic slowly took over his features. He barely noticed Luther’s pale face, Diego’s open mouth or Allison’s trembling frame. He was too busy feeling like he was a million miles away. Everything went quiet other than the beating of his heart, which tripled in volume. Klaus felt his entire world tilt off its axis, not able to believe his own ears. His brain stuttered for a moment, everything put on pause as his thoughts tried to catch up and make sense of what Five just said. 

At once, after everyone got over their shock, they all looked at Five and exclaimed their own variations of curses and demands in perfect unison. Allison, who couldn’t speak, said more than enough with her fiery glare alone. They were all shouting over each other, trying to be heard over everyone else and moving around so that they could be seen better. 

The four murderous gazes he could see directed at him did not seem to affect Five at all. 

After everyone had their outburst, Diego barged forward. Fury was written on every part of his face as he pointed at Five’s chest harshly and spat out, “I’m sorry, but did I mishear you or have you really just informed us that, at this very moment, we are being hunted like animals?” 

“That is correct.” 

Diego snarled, pushing his finger further into Five’s chest, “and you did not think to mention this before? So we would have known what we were dealing with? That way we could have been more prepared because right now we are sitting ducks and practically defenseless!” 

“When? When the world was falling apart or when I was unconscious? I thought you had enough common sense to figure it out by yourselves without me there to hold your hand. Clearly, I was giving you too much credit.” 

“You little asshole-! I gonna-” 

“In my defense,” Five interrupted, taking a step back from Diego and placing his hands in his pockets. “I thought we would be able to succeed with preventing the apocalypse. Then the Commission would not have been able to do anything as the event was stopped. If I did not pull all of you along with me, you would have been vaporized.” 

“What’s the better of the two evils, though? Getting vaporized or getting hunted and shot to death?” Klaus asked bitterly. “Oh jeez, I don’t know.” He moved from his position on the bed and sat at the end, feet touching the ground. They ended up forming a small semi-circle, with Five in the middle. 

“None of us are getting shot to death if we are smart about this,” Five said dryly. “I’ve outsmarted the Commission twice now. We could do this together if we agree to work with each other and not be at each other’s throats all the time. Ben made it with us, right?” 

Klaus held in a mocking comment, turning his head around to look for Ben. He stood away from the group and had his hands stuffed inside his pockets, lost in thought. Klaus pointed to where Ben stood silently. 

Five nodded, avoiding looking in the direction Klaus pointed to. “That means that we have the six of us back together. And we have Vanya now, too. This stupid family is all we have and if we combine all of our skill sets, we could make it work.” 

“Just so we’re clear,” Luther said, looking even more drained than he did at the start. “This Commission will leave us alone once the apocalypse is averted?” It seemed like Klaus did not have a choice in the matter of whether or not to stop the apocalypse. He swallowed down a whine of complaint at being made to play the hero again. 

“In theory, yes. They will have no reason to hunt us down as the timeline will already be changed and killing us will not change that. They would be too busy trying to manage all the new information regarding this new timeline. Then again, the Commission is quite unpredictable so I can’t say exactly. It would be our best bet, nonetheless.” 

“Is there a reason we can’t just storm this Commission place and bring the fight to them?” Diego demanded with a sweep of his arm. “Or, better yet, why can’t we just go back to the week before the apocalypse and ensure Vanya doesn’t end up locked in that vault?” 

“Excuse me? Vanya was in a vault?” Five asked, in a scarily calm tone. He turned to the rest of them and demanded, “what vault?” 

“Luther thought it would be a smart idea to lock her in a soundproof vault under the house that Dad built for her,” Diego answered, glaring daggers at Luther. Allison quickly joined him and glared at Luther, too. Klaus watched the talking with his eyes, already knowing that another fight was underway. “That was why the house got destroyed as Vanya managed to break out.” 

Five looked like he could not believe what he was hearing. He turned to Luther and asked, “you locked up our sister? Why?” 

“Yeah,” Diego continued, turning to fully look at Luther. “That’s what I’ve been wondering. You’re over here trying to play the leader and decide what we should do when you’re the one that caused Vanya to go berserk in the first place.” 

“Being a leader means making the difficult decisions in the times of need,” Luther said. He still seemed to believe that locking Vanya up was the correct choice of action. Klaus nearly scoffed out loud, memories of the hours he spent locked in the mausoleum surfacing to the front of his mind. “I wanted to make sure she did not hurt anyone else until we understood more of what her powers were capable of.” His voice sounded soft, but Klaus could tell that Luther felt angry at being blamed for Vanya’s actions. 

“Oh yeah?” Five exclaimed, glaring so harshly Klaus was surprised that Luther did not melt on the spot. “She’s not just some animal you can lock up in a cage! She’s our sister!” 

“I know that!” Luther snapped, through gritted teeth. “She was still a threat! You saw what she did to Allison and Harold Jenkins and how she caused the Academy to collapse! I did not want anyone else in my family to get hurt!” 

“She’s lying right there, you asshole, and she’s part of your family!” Diego pointed a finger to Vanya’s small figure, sleeping motionlessly on the bed. “You should have helped her, instead of locking her up. The only reason she brought down the Academy was because she lost control after you locked her up!” 

“Yeah.” Klaus stood up from the bed and pointed out, “based on what I saw, I think her powers are tied to her emotions. It would make sense, as she got stronger when she was locked up, or when we interrupted her performance. And instead of calming her down, you made her so distressed she destroyed the world.” He clapped his hands mockingly, “kudos.” 

“You didn’t seem to be so against it at the time,” Luther grumbled loudly. 

“Oh really?” Klaus drawled, feeling strangely hysterical. “I told you,” he pointed a shaking finger at Luther. “I told you to let her out so she had a chance to explain herself. Instead you decided to play the judge, jury and executioner all on your own because Vanya accidentally hurt Allison! If it wasn’t Allison who got hurt, you wouldn’t have given a single shit about Vanya or anyone else! If you just showed some understanding, our world would not have ended and we wouldn’t have to worry about any of this!” Klaus could feel his palms becoming sweaty and itchy and his heart rate picking up. He didn’t want to be here. He felt overwhelmed and angry and a million other things he could not identify, with the literal fate of the world on his shoulders and he didn’t know what to do. He wanted to get away, run away to sleep or cry or just not feel at all anything for a while. 

“And what do you call Allison blatantly telling you to let Vanya out?” Diego reminded him, pointing at Allison who looked about ready to strangle something from being unable to speak. “Is that what you call not being against it?” 

“You can’t just lock someone up because you’re scared and expect everyone else to agree with it,” Five crossed his arms over his chest. His glare had not softened at all. “Should the rest of us be worried that we’ll get locked up if we show some new power we didn’t know we had?” 

“You act all holy now,” Luther scowled and narrowed his eyes. “But you have done nothing to include her since we got back together! Allison told me that you,” he pointed at Diego angrily, “said she was a liability and that she did not belong with us anymore,” he gestured to all of them now, “and none of you even thought of inviting Vanya to that family meeting either! All of you excluded her all her life and now you act as if you’ve been the best of friends!” 

“Don’t you try to pass the blame on to me or to any of us, you bastard!” Diego shouted, getting all up in Luther’s face. “I only said she was a liability because shooters attacked our fucking house and she got injured! I did not want her to get killed!” Diego fumed, his face getting redder and redder, “she may have written a shitty book about our family for the whole world to see but she’s still my sister! I would never- I could never lock her up! I don’t care whether she has powers!” 

“We all did stupid things as children! And even now as adults!” Five acknowledged, giving Luther the stink eye. “We left her out of everything and made her feel lesser than us. So, when she finally started showing signs of having a power like the rest of us, her entire world must have fell apart! She felt lied to and manipulated after Allison and Harold Jenkins, and all she wanted was for her family to help her and to understand her. And what did you do? Made her feel even worse about everything! Made her out to be some sort of villain. You even wanted to leave her behind to die instead of taking her with us!” 

“I saw her in that cage,” Klaus retorted, vibrating out of his skin. “I saw how scared she was of her powers! She needed our support and you couldn’t even give her that much! She was in tears and hyperventilating and crying out how sorry she was and you just left her there to rot and stopped any of us from letting her out!” 

“I did what I had to in order to protect my family!” Luther bellowed, rising to his full height. 

“How is locking up our sister supposed to be protecting her?” Diego shouted back. 

“I was trying to protect her from herself!” 

“And look how that turned out!” Both of them getting louder and louder. “The moon broke apart as a result of your great leadership skills!” 

At that moment, the lightbulb above burst apart and sprayed them all in millions of tiny glass fragments. Everyone flinched and silence enveloped them all like a wave. Then, as one, they all turned behind them to where Vanya was sitting up in bed. Her eyes, which were thankfully back to normal, were wide and fearful. She looked like she was about a second away from having an anxiety attack, her breathing fast and deep. 

“Vanya,” Five whispered softly, breaking the silence. 

“W-what’s going on? Where are we?” Vanya’s voice sounded unsteady and quiet. She looked from one person to the next, noticing their rigid postures, red faces and shallow breathing. She looked down at herself, then back at them. Her hands were clutching the bed sheets so tightly that her knuckles turned white. Her gaze stopped at Allison and her voice broke when she asked, “Allison?” 

“What’s the last thing you remember?” Five asked in a forcefully calm tone, slowly walking up to her and sitting beside her. Allison walked up behind Five with a heartbroken expression on her face and looking close to tears. Everyone else stayed put. 

Vanya hesitated, “I- I don’t know. I was in some room, and I couldn’t breathe. It was dark and I think- I think I was hallucinating.” She struggled to find words. “Then I was at the concert, I don’t remember how I got there but I was so angry and- I don’t know. I just wanted to play but-.” She looked up at Allison and reached out to her, taking her hand in hers. She cried, “Oh Allison, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to! I swear I didn’t!” Allison pulled Vanya into a hug as she began to sob, sitting on the bed and wrapping her arms tightly around her. Vanya kept muttering apologies under her breath, tears running down her cheek and not responding to any of Five’s questions. The scene was causing Klaus’ own heart to contract and squeeze. 

Five placed a hand on Vanya’s back, trying to offer his own sort of comfort. “Are you pleased about what you did, Luther?” Luther looked at the broken Vanya in bed with an unreadable expression on his face. “Look at her and tell me you feel pleased.” Luther stayed silent, avoiding eye contact with everyone. Five nodded and looked back to Vanya, trying to talk to her again. “Vanya?” he asked softly. “Can you hear me?” 

Shaking himself out of his shock, Klaus decided to walk around to sit closer to Vanya’s bed. Vanya did not seem to be paying any attention to anything around her, lost in her own world of muttering apologies to Allison in-between heavy sobs and hiccups. 

Klaus looked around to see where Ben ended up and found him standing on the other side of Vanya’s bed, watching her with a look of deep concern. He looked over at Klaus and shrugged his shoulders, looking helpless as Klaus currently felt. Neither of them knew what to do in this situation. 

“I understand that my actions may not have been the best, but it was a necessary evil as she was an unknown threat.” Luther spoke into the tense silence, trying to resolve the situation. “That vault was a temporary solution to try and minimize the damage. It was an awful situation and-” 

“Is that you talking, or Dad?” Diego challenged, getting into Luther’s personal space again. Klaus knew that a physical fight was going to break out soon, but he lost the ability to care about ten minutes ago. 

“This again?” 

“Yes, this again,” Diego mocked. He jabbed Luther in the chest, “Answer the question,_ brother. _Did you lock Vanya in that vault because Dad thought she was a threat?” Luther opened his mouth, but Diego interrupted him lowly, “and don’t you dare try to bullshit me.” 

Luther stayed silent, before swallowing and looking away, “Dad would not have declared her a threat for no good reason.” 

Diego looked almost disappointed. He sighed a long-suffering sigh and stepped back. 

Allison ran her hands through Vanya’s hair gently while she hiccupped quietly, running out of tears to cry. Five looked royally pissed off. Even Ben looked downhearted, shoulders drooping. The whole atmosphere just weighed them all down. Klaus debated taking a page out of Diego’s book and taking a swing at Luther just to satisfy his anger. His punch probably wouldn’t even phase Luther, but damn if it wouldn’t make him feel better. He had not felt so angry in years and he wasn’t used to it. 

He sighed instead, resting his head on his hand. “What happened to the Luther that found all of Reggie’s research? The Luther that realized just how little Reggie actually cared about any of us? You were so upset that you got pissed drunk. You realized how much time you wasted following him blindly and you were ready to completely let him go, what happened to that?” 

“Yes, he was wrong to do that. But he was right about some things as well,” Luther answered, taking a step back. 

“Like locking up our sister? Unbelievable,” Diego fumed, throwing his hands in the air. “And here I thought you finally saw some sense, before the world went to shit,” he laughed humorlessly. “Joke’s on me then, huh? Looks like you’re always going to be Dad’s loyal little lapdog!” 

“I’m not Dad’s lapdog!” Luther protested loudly. “I know that I followed him blindly for years, thinking he had our best interests in mind, but I do believe that Dad built that vault because he knew how destructive Vanya’s powers can be if unchecked. He put her on those pills to prevent her from losing control.” 

Klaus felt like they were going around in circles. He replied with disinterest, “because it’s so much easier to build an underground vault and put Vanya on medication for her whole life than just properly training her to control her powers,” he rolled his eyes and scoffed. “Of course, silly me for thinking otherwise.” But then Klaus remembered his own training and thought that Vanya may have dodged a bullet, in regards to training with Reggie. 

Five spoke up from where he was holding one of Vanya’s hands in his. “I’m tired of this. We have more important things to be focusing on. Luther clearly won’t change his mind so all of you are just wasting your breath.” 

“I don’t know about you guys, but I don’t trust Lutherto make any more important decisions for us, at least not for a while.” Diego raised his eyebrow at Luther’s offended face. “In case he decides that anyone else needs to be locked up for our protection.” 

“You can’t just-” Luther protested loudly, clenching his hands into fists. “I’m Number One!” 

“No. _Dad _made you Number One. We never chose you as our leader,” Diego said without missing a beat. 

“And he’s dead, so what he says no longer matters,” Klaus felt inclined to remind them. 

Luther shot him a dirty look, and went to respond before Diego cut him off. “Exactly. You’ll need to earn the title of leader from us. So, I propose a vote,” Diego declared suddenly. “Instead of following orders we don’t want to follow,” he side-eyed Luther, “I propose that we all get equal say in deciding things and vote on the best course of action so that the majority will be satisfied. If the vote is split, we could arrange a compromise. Now that we are going to be fighting for our lives, we should not argue about decisions made by our trusted leader.” 

“Oh, like we’re doing right now?” Klaus grumbled. 

“Don’t pretend like we don’t know what this is really about, Two,” Luther hissed. “You’ve always wanted to be the leader. Always wanted to take away my title as the leader away from me, and you grew bitter when it never worked. Now that Dad is gone, you keep trying.” 

“You’re not in any position to shame my actions,” Diego said angrily and looked around, raising his hand, “all in favour, raise your hand.” 

Almost immediately, everyone in the room raised their hands. Klaus raised both hands for his vote, and ended up raising a foot as well after he saw Ben lift his own hand. Even Vanya, who Klaus thought was still too far out of it to even hear Diego, raised her hand. Klaus could tell she felt confused about what was going on and probably did not fully follow the conversation, but she raised her hand regardless. Even Allison and Five raised their hands. Diego appeared satisfied with the outcome and sent Luther a smug grin. 

“You’re going to have to regain our trust,” Diego told Luther. “You want to remain being our leader? Fine. But you’re going to have to prove to us that you’re not just repeating Dad’s words and that you’re actually capable of thinking for yourself and making better decisions. We can help you because we are your family.” Diego continued gesturing to everyone in the room. “Even though you have not given one of us the same courtesy. We can help you get over Dad’s brainwashing and help you become your own person, but the majority of the work will have to come from you.” 

Luther stayed silent, looking anywhere but at Diego. 

“You’re going to have to hope and pray that Vanya finds it in her heart to forgive you someday, because until you have all of our votes, you’re not leading anything. You’ll have the same amount of say as the rest of us.” Luther looked like Diego just kicked his puppy. “Understand?” 

Luther nodded reluctantly after a few moments. 

Five cleared his throat. “Now that our dirty laundry has been hanged, can we please go back to the fact that the Commission is trying to kill us?” Klaus knew that they all had a lot more dirty laundry to dig through, but decided now was definitely not the time. As the cloud of anger began to dissolve, Klaus realized how much time they wasted arguing when they could be attacked at any second. He sucked up the fact that the last thing he wanted to do right now was discuss the fact that the Commission was after their hides and nodded alongside everyone else. 

Vanya pulled away from Allison and Five, but stayed beside her and put her head on Allison’s shoulder, listening to the conversation. She was still jumpy and shaking, but had stopped hiccupping and was aware enough to join their conversation. They all gathered around Vanya’s bed and surrounded Five as if they were all four years old and about to be told a bedtime story by Grandpa Five. 

They listened as Five proceeded to describe how the Commission worked. He told them about his brief stay there that resulted in him finding out about Harold Jenkins, and how he managed to blow a lot of it up, including their supply of briefcases, which they needed in order to travel through time. Five answered Diego’s previous inquiry of storming the Commission with the fact that they wouldn’t stand a snowballs chance in hell of making it out of there alive as the Commission had dozens of shooters and fighters and they would be crazy outnumbered, not to mention the fact that some of them were years out of practice in regards to fighting and defending themselves. The only reason Five managed to blow up the Commission was because he was already inside and had the element of surprise, at least partially. 

He revealed that he was gone from the bowling alley when the shooters first attacked because the Handler called him away as a way to separate him from the others. Apparently, the Commission went under a lot of changes after Five blew it up, so Five was not exactly sure how they ran the place nowadays. But judging by the number of shooters that were after them, the Commission relied on a lot more firepower and less stealth. That wasn’t to say that the Commission did not send any stealthy assassins after them, so they had to be careful. 

Five also explained how, because he can time travel without a briefcase, the Commission was going to have a harder time tracking them to any specific moment in time. But the Commission had field agents on the ground and so they would have to ensure that they were not recognized by getting disguises and laying low. As long as they managed to keep to themselves and not cause any big changes that would alert the Commission, they could avoid having another showdown with them for another while. 

Finally, Five explained how in order to prevent the apocalypse, Vanya had to be trained. She had to control her powers well enough so that there was no chance that she could lose control again. While they are doing that, they would alter very small, specific things in the past in order to bring about the best possible future. Making huge changes, like going back to the week before the apocalypse and changing what happened to Vanya, would be too risky. They would be revealing their exact location to the Commission, and they had no way of ensuring that they would succeed and not freak out Vanya even more, causing them to travel back once again. 

Five told them about the butterfly effect and how it is the idea that a small change in the past can cause much bigger changes to happen in the future. They would be relying on the butterfly effect and Five’s calculations in deciding what events needed to be altered in order to bring about their desired outcome. They would need to work swiftly and stealthy and Five stuck to his statement that by combining their skill sets, they would be able to beat the Commission and that their only problem would be not killing each other before they managed to accomplish their goal. 

Five admitted that he did not know how long it would take him to perfect his time travel equations to successfully transport all of them to their target time, and that they were stuck here until he figured it out. 

Everyone grumbled out their understandings and once everyone started to get sick of each other’s company, they decided that they needed to get their shit together and get supplies at long last. Klaus could hear his siblings’ stomachs grumbling and suggested that they get should get a move on before they all starve. 

Everyone began to throw around ideas on how and where to get food and clothes. Diego shoved Klaus and made him tell the group of his idea of using the clothing bins to get clothes and everyone agreed that these were their best bet, unless they wanted to rob a store. 

After more brainstorming, they decided to use the laundromats to clean the clothes. They voted on the best way to get money to pay for the laundromats and get food and the majority settled on taking some money from a wealthy-looking person, who surely wouldn’t miss it. They were going to use it for the good cause of saving the world anyway. 

They decided to split into two groups. 

One group had to stay with Vanya, who was still regaining her strength. Allison volunteered herself to stay with Vanya immediately, but as she couldn’t talk, Five was chosen to stay with them. Five protested against being left behind at first, but they eventually convinced him to stay and be the one to explain the situation in more detail to Vanya and fill in her blanks. Five would also be able to quiz Vanya about her powers and get started on figuring out easy ways of getting her to control them, while saving his energy for their next jump through time. 

That left Luther, Diego, Klaus and Ben to venture out into the wild to scavenge for supplies. Five gave them a list of necessary items they needed to bring back and insisted that they find a new place to sleep as he refused to stay another night in the shady motel. They were warned to be careful, stay out of sight and not do anything stupid, and told to come back before the evening. 

Klaus quickly put on his shoes and army vest while Diego strapped on his knives, and sent Five a kiss jokingly on the way out, ignoring the dirty look he got in return. Everyone exchanged goodbyes and, as quickly as they arrived, they were off. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Diego was the hero that we needed in this chapter. Praise be.


	3. starting steps

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which everyone interrupts each other but poor five wins by getting interrupted eight times in a single discussion.

CHAPTER III

The walk from the motel was silent, the crunching of the stones under his feet being the only sound Diego could hear until they reached the road. 

Diego’s mind had been reeling ever since Five’s revelation. He had about a thousand different thoughts circling around his head but was not able to focus on any specific one. He walked beside his brothers under the shining sunlight and if Diego had to guess, he would say that it was around midday. There were few clouds in the sky, scattered in all directions, and a light breeze flew by his face and cooled him down. 

Listening carefully to the sounds of the world around him, he could hear the soft rustling of the leaves, engines starting and the quiet chirp of the birds that filled the awkward silence that followed them. His brothers were all quiet, no one had spoken a word since they left. The aftermath of their fight that morning left the atmosphere tense and he did not know whether he should try to break it, or leave it be. 

There were fewer people going about their day than yesterday, but Diego could still see people walking in every direction, and a few cars driving up and down the road. He noticed that the town had vibrant colours, with plenty of blues and reds and that the people had clothing styles straight out of the movies he used to watch in secret with Ben when they were very young. He wondered how Ben was taking the situation, and if he was the same Ben he grew up with or if being a ghost made him different. 

He had been in a state of panic and disbelief, as well as anger, for the majority of their time here. After getting so much of his anger off his chest in his fights with Luther, Diego just felt tired and numb. He felt like he was in a dream and that he will wake up any moment with Eudora and Pogo and _Mom_ still alive. With his sister just as ordinary as she had been his entire life, with her shitty book and her boring life. And with his only problem being how he was going to win his next fight. 

Now he didn’t know what to do. Didn’t know how to guarantee his family’s safety. It left him feeling restless. 

Shaking his head, he decided that it was time he made himself useful. Upon arriving in the middle of the street about ten minutes away from the motel, he stopped in his tracks under the shadow of a building. Klaus stopped beside him and they shared a look. He looked around the area, trying to map the small town out in his head by retracing his steps and remembering the area they crossed yesterday. 

He could see Luther stop mid-step in front of them. He looked at the two of them in confusion and quirked his eyebrows. Diego took a step forward and quietly explained, “we need to map out our surroundings. See what’s around the area in case we need to quickly regroup. Convenience stores, parks, housing estates and so on. Plus, it wouldn’t hurt to know what places to avoid. So, keep an eye out.” 

Klaus continued for him, focusing on the buildings around them. He looked pale, and seemed like a soft breeze could knock him over and carry him away. He had smudges of eyeliner around his eyes, which made him appear even more run-down. Diego wondered how much sleep he got last night, after he got sick. “This looks like some kind of shopping street.” He gestured briefly to specific points around them with an unsteady hand. “I can see a jewelers, a salon, a bakery, some kind of repair shop, too.” 

“Nothing useful to us, then,” Diego said. 

“What about you, big guy?” Klaus turned towards Luther expectantly. “Did you notice anything important?” 

Luther looked like he was at a loss. He turned his head to glance around before shaking his head. 

“What about yesterday, on your walk to the motel?” Klaus asked. “Do you remember seeing anything useful then?” 

Luther shook his head once again. 

Diego resisted the urge to sigh and changed the subject. “Where did you usually find these clothing bins?” 

Klaus furrowed his eyebrows before answering. “Behind the parking lots of supermarkets, usually. I think I saw some on the side of the road, too.” He turned his head towards the empty space to his right and raised an eyebrow. He turned back with a grin, “oh, and at recycling centres.” 

Diego nodded. “I think we should get a bag first, some kind of backpack.” He shared another look with Klaus. “So that we can carry the clothes more easily.” 

“Yeah,” Klaus agreed simply. “I think we should get everyone a bag. So that each of us could carry around our own things. Plus, some of the things we need to get will not be easy to carry by hand.” 

“Good idea.” Diego said, nodding. Luther was watching their discussion with his eyes like a tennis match. 

“First order of business, we need cash. C’mon, let’s keep moving. Luther, honey, do try to keep up,” Klaus said as he started walking again and Diego went to follow him with Luther bringing up the rear. “Doing my magic shouldn’t take too long.” He rubbed his hands together and glanced at everyone around them, the beginning of a smirk on his face. 

Luther had not said a word since they left the motel. He had his head down and his fists were clenched. Diego did not know whether he felt awkward from their fight or if he simply did not want to be there, but he hoped that Luther would not just be dead weight following behind them the entire time. He had more important things on his mind than making sure his brother did not walk under a car while he was too busy entertaining his thoughts rather than staying alert. 

He knew Klaus was on the lookout for a potential pickpocket victim, as he eyed all the people going about their own lives with a contemplative look. Diego and Klaus kept up a quiet conversation over who they think looks the most like a rich asshole, with some comments from Ben. The town had a surprising amount of wealthy-looking people. They found some people with expensive looking jackets and handbags, but Klaus kept shaking his head whenever Diego pointed these people out. Sometimes he would hum or shake his head at where Ben was beside him while he was debating his options. 

Diego left him to it, knowing that Klaus knew what he was doing more than he ever will. Instead he turned to Luther who was just behind him. He slowed down his pace and walked beside his brother, sharply elbowing him in the ribs. 

Luther hissed and turned to look at him, “what?” 

“What’s wrong with you?” 

“What- Nothing is wrong with me.” 

Diego gave him an unimpressed look that he was slowly beginning to master from spending so much time with Klaus. “You’re spaced out, you haven’t said a word since we left and you have that sad look on your face. Are you that butthurt about us disagreeing with you and losing your title as the leader?” 

“What? No, that’s not-” Luther paused, furrowing his eyebrows. “I am hurt about that but-” 

“Well then, Klaus, Ben and I can handle ourselves just fine if you think you’re too good for us. We don’t need you to keep spacing out instead of helping.” 

“No, it’s not that.” 

“Then what is it?” 

“Just-” Another pause. “Deep in thought.” 

“You can think?” Diego snorted to himself. “What are you thinking about?” 

“Why do you care?” Luther said halfheartedly. “You’ve made your opinions of me quite clear.” 

“Yes,” Diego answered slowly. They quickly crossed the road, increasing their walking speed to keep up with Klaus. “And nothing has changed. We’re all mad at you. But, given the circumstances, we will all be better off if you get out of your head. So, go on, why are you up in the dumps this time?” 

“It’s just- I have no idea what I'm doing,” Luther said, his shoulders tense as if he is waiting for Diego to ridicule him. When Diego just kept looking at him expectantly, Luther continued, “I want to keep everyone safe, but I feel so out of my depth here.” 

“It’s not just your responsibility to keep us safe,” Diego replied. “And sulking away in a corner is definitely not helping, I can tell you that much.” 

“Nothing we learned in the Academy prepared me for this and I feel useless while you and Klaus know what to do. I don’t like it.” 

Diego sighed, wondering how to answer without starting a fight in the middle of the street. “Stop feeling sorry for yourself. Nobody likes feeling useless,” he said after a moment. “As paranoid as our old man was, even he couldn’t have prepared us for something like this.” None of them expected to end up in this situation and none of them actually knew what the hell they were doing. Maybe Five did but he didn’t count. Just because him and Klaus weren’t bemoaning their situation didn’t automatically make them experts in how to navigate in the past. “But you shouldn’t let that be the sole thing you’re worried about right now.” 

Diego knew that he was not taking the situation well. But he also knew that there was no right way to handle a situation like this. Not with people after him and his family. But at least he was not letting that get in the way of them getting things done. And neither should Luther. They would have plenty of time to cry about it later. 

“But what if I’ll never know what to do?” Luther asked quietly. “How to keep everyone safe? I tried, back at the Academy, and everyone hates me for it.” 

He suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. “What you did back there was not keeping us safe. You took your own meaning of ‘safe’ and tried to make decisions based on that.” 

“So you keep telling me,” Luther sighed. “I didn’t want Vanya to get hurt. Watching her break down like that-” 

“Learn from your mistakes, then,” Diego said simply, as it really was that simple. “Stop sulking, pick yourself up and be better.” He paused before continuing, trying to pick his words carefully. “You can’t be good at everything, no matter how much you may want to. And maybe you’re just not good at leading and making good decisions. You should just accept that and find something you are good at.” 

“I know-” 

“For once you can stop trying to be in charge of everything and allow those that know better to take the front wheel. And trust the rest of us to know how to take care of ourselves.” He made sure that Luther knew he was not meaning to start a fight with his words. Diego was also taking a step back and allowing Klaus to pick his target and enact whatever plan he came up with. 

“It’s not that easy.” 

“I know. But you may have to get used to it sooner or later.” Diego shrugged his shoulders. “Dad is no longer here to make us try to one-up each other.” 

Luther huffed, “that’s not-” 

“Five did say that all of us have our own skills,” Diego continued as if Luther hadn’t spoken. “At the end of the day, we’re all on the same side so letting others take the lead does not make the skills you have any less important.” To think barely an hour ago they were both tearing into each other and cutting it where it hurts. 

“What skills are you talking about, exactly?” 

“Are you fishing for compliments?” 

“No, I'm trying to find something I can do so I can stop feeling so useless.” 

“Look,” Diego sighed. “I told you, Dad is gone. You no longer need to prove useful in every situation. You will be use_l__ess_ in some situations, just as you will be use_f__ul _ in others. That’s just how it is. And if you just cry about it every time poor Number One can’t show everyone how superior he is, the situations that will make you useless will increase.” 

Luther looked thoughtful. He was about to open his mouth to say something else, but he got interrupted by Klaus, who stood in front of them with his hands on his hips. They were in a different part of the shopping street with a pharmacy and a fruit stand just opposite them. Klaus had a manic grin on his face and Diego immediately knew that he had a plan. He said to them, “hey, sorry to interrupt one of your_ big __bro __talks _ but I need Luther to do something for me, quickly.” 

Blinking, Luther pointed at himself, "Me?” 

"No, the other Luther. 

Luther nodded, gesturing for Klaus to go on. 

Klaus pointed subtly behind him. “Go up to that guy – over there in that fancy schmancy coat that’s just about to walk past us – and ask him for directions to the nearest laundromat.” 

“I thought we needed clothes first?” 

“Just do it!” Klaus urged. “And fast!” 

Looking confused, Luther did as he was told as Klaus shooed him up to the guy without another word. Then he stepped under the shadows and out of sight. Diego stayed with Klaus against the wall they were in front of. He looked at Klaus in question, but Klaus just told him to stay out of sight and not to interrupt. 

Luther stepped up towards the man that had not noticed him yet. He wore a light grey suit, over which he had an expensive looking black trench coat with white buttons. He had professional and sturdy shoes on his feet. Diego could see Luther trying to get the man’s attention with an awkward wave of his hand. 

The man looked his way and raised an eyebrow at Luther as he stopped in the middle of the street. He appeared on the younger side, with light brown curly hair, black glasses and a paper cup in his hand. 

The picture of big and tall Luther struggling to naturally ask this man for directions was priceless. Even though he could not hear what they were saying over all the noise in the street he could tell Luther was trying and failing to sound like he was just a curious shopper in search of a laundromat. He saw the man pointing down the road to the right. 

After their conversation seemed to be coming to a halt, Klaus pushed himself off the wall. “Showtime,” he winked at him, walking up to the pair and looking more natural than Luther ever managed. 

Klaus crossed the distance to where the man stood in a few short seconds and promptly tripped over his own feet. He cried out in surprise, flailing his arms around and stumbling into the man on the way down, causing the man to lose his balance and fall on top of Klaus and onto the ground. Their limbs tangled together as the contents of his paper cup spilled over the both of them. Luther stared down at them, eyes wide and muscles tensed with shock. Diego hoped he wasn’t going to interrupt. People stopped to look and stare at the pile of limbs they made on the ground by Luther’s feet. 

Klaus let out a loud whine of pain. He sat up, clutching his arm to his chest and looking up the man with wide, regretful eyes. “I am so sorry!” He exclaimed loudly in a surprisingly realistic British accent, bringing even more attention to himself. The man’s face began to turn red from shame and embarrassment from having so many people stare at him. “I did not mean to trip into you, oh my god this is so embarrassing!” 

Luther stared down at the scene in disbelief. He looked over at Diego for help on what he should do, but Diego quickly gestured for Luther to come over. Luther looked torn for a few seconds before he decided to go over to him and demanded, “what is this?” 

Diego shushed him, looking behind Luther’s large shoulders. “Just watch.” 

Turning back around, they both watched Klaus clumsily help the man up onto his feet. With ease, he had his hands on the man’s shoulder and torso before he lost his footing again and fell down with the man for the second time. Klaus yelled out apologies left and right. He kept pushing the man’s limbs from under him, preventing him from getting onto his feet properly and made the overall scene even worse than it was before. It was almost painful to watch. 

The poor man’s face turned beet red and he seemed to be shaking as he avoided eye contact with everyone. The scene got a bunch of attention from those in the vicinity through the sheer volume of Klaus’ voice. 

Once Klaus got him steady on his feet, he began patting his suit and trench coat down, smoothing out the wrinkles that arose from the fall. Diego could see that the man’s clothes were dirtier, with a large brown stain on the front of his suit. Klaus’ hands were still flailing around everywhere, and he patted himself down as well, all while loudly ranting, “I am the biggest klutz! I can’t express to you how sorry I am for all the inconvenience I caused you! Look at the people staring at this mess! I can pay you for another coffee and for the cleaners to get your suit cleaned! You must be late for work, oh gosh, this is all my fault, let me help-” 

Once Klaus showed signs of losing his balance again, the man hissed loudly, “I got it!” He pushed Klaus away and stepped back from him. He looked down at his stained suit, up at the staring crowd, and then put his head down and did not spare Klaus another glance as he hurried away to get as far away from all the stares, and probably from Klaus himself, as possible. 

“I’m sorry!” Klaus hollered down the street after the man. The man tensed and sped up his pace, just about running away. Klaus turned to the rest of his audience and expertly turned their attention away from him before skipping over to where Luther and Diego stood, about a minute later. Luther had his mouth wide open in shock and Diego just nodded his head, feeling quite impressed. 

“Whew- what a show, huh?” Klaus grinned at them. He looked more disheveled than before and his colorful shirt had a large brown stain in the middle. The signature chaotic gleam in his eyes was back. The crowd dispersed once the show finished, allowing him to hide out of sight by the shadows again. 

“Did you get it?” Diego asked quietly, so only Klaus, Luther and possibly Ben could hear him. 

“What kind of question is that? Of course, I did,” Klaus said, sounding mildly offended. He nodded for them to start walking down the street, in the opposite direction the poor man ran off to. “C’mon.” 

After they distanced themselves from the area, Luther turned to Klaus and demanded harshly, “what did you think you were doing?” 

“What do you think?” Klaus demanded back. He looked around to ensure no one was looking before reaching into the pocket of his vest and allowing a fraction of a wallet to be seen. He let the both of them take a good look at it before shoving it right back into his pocket. 

“You- you stole from him?” Luther said, astounded. 

“Christ, keep your voice down!” Klaus whispered harshly. “We voted on taking from some wealthy prick, so I took from a wealthy prick.” 

“But-!” Luther needed a moment to calm himself. “You completely humiliated him!” 

“Just a precaution,” Klaus waved him off. “That way he would skedaddle quickly, and by the time he comes down from the embarrassment and notices what happened, we’ll be long on our way. Don’t you worry bro, this ain’t my first rodeo.” Klaus shrugged before continuing, “it’s his fault that he keeps his wallet in a pocket that’s easily accessible, anyway. It’ll just be a lesson for him.” 

“Did you not listen to a word Five said?” Luther looked like he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “About not bringing any unnecessary attention to ourselves? You just created a scene with you in the middle! And that guy knows your face!” 

“Relax,” drawled Diego, joining the argument. “We’re about to get disguises, aren’t we? By the time he reports this, we’ll be looking different. And we’ll be out of here as soon as Five gets his shit together, anyway.” They reached the intersection and immediately turned right. 

“I can’t believe this,” Luther sighed, running a hand down his face. “It’s not like we’re going to turn into completely different people! You can’t change your face!” 

“No, but the guy will remember a very good-looking British guy in a vest and striped shirt,” Klaus explained slowly. “So, if we change our clothes and cover our faces, we’ll be just fine.” 

“What if that man was one of those field agents Five told us about?” Luther continued. “Or one of the people in the area that saw the scene?” 

“I doubt it,” Klaus said. “Benny was on the lookout for anything suspicious and did not see anything out of the ordinary.” He sent a thumbs up to the space beside him. 

“If they track us down because of this,” Luther warned. “Just know that it will be on _ your _ head.” 

Klaus gave him the stink eye. “Duly noted.” 

Luther just sighed heavily. Then, he said, “I thought you were too shy to ask for directions.” 

“_Me? _Shy?” Klaus giggled. “I think you forgot who you were talking about.” 

“I don’t think you even know the meaning of the word ‘shy’,” Diego told Klaus with a smug grin on his face. 

“Or ‘humility’,” Luther added. 

Klaus glanced at the space beside him and clutched a hand dramatically to his chest, over his heart, “betrayed! By my own brothers! I don’t know how I'll ever recover!” 

“Whatever it is that Ben said, I agree,” Diego said. 

Klaus paused, listening. “He said that I'm a pure angel who never did anything wrong.” He snapped his head back and glared at the space beside him with mock offense, “don’t try to hit me, you bitch.” 

“That’s just the kind of response you trigger in others. They hear you talk and they just want to hit you,” Diego smirked, stepping out of the way of the shove that Klaus aimed for him. “You’ll have to try harder than that.” 

“I still think you could have handled that differently,” Luther felt inclined to comment, but he did not look so angry anymore. 

“My entire family is made up of self-assured assholes,” Klaus complained, but there was no malice in his voice. He looked up to the sky, “what has my innocent soul done to deserve this?” 

“Would you like a list?” Diego replied back immediately. Klaus turned his head to glare at him good-naturedly. “I can have it alphabetized.” 

“Asshole.” 

“Shithead.” 

-.-.- 

They returned to the run-down motel a little after half past five. 

By that time, Diego felt ready to eat an entire horse and then sleep the rest of the week away. 

His talk with Luther seemed to pull Luther out of his head, at least enough to try and engage with them. Luther listened to them when he and Klaus tossed ideas back and forth. He seemed to realize he had no good ideas of his own, and just bombarded them with a bunch of questions about various parts of their plans. They ended up disagreeing once or twice, but at no point did Diego want to punch Luther in the face, so he took that as a success. 

They ended up wasting a whole lot of time at the clothing bins that they found at the back of a large parking lot in front of a supermarket. They were fairly out of view, covered by a few thick trees and shrubbery so it took them a few minutes to spot them at all. 

After figuring out a way of taking the clothes out, Diego and Luther wanted to go and quickly fill up the large backpacks they bought (which took a hefty chunk out of their newly acquired money) regardless of what the clothes were. Diego figured they would just go through the clothes back at the motel to save time, but Klaus put up a fight. He was adamant that they should go through the clothes right there in the parking lot and no amount of threats of violence or injury would get him to move. 

He went through each article of clothing he came across, judging it by the quality and style and who in the family it would suit best, while Diego and Luther stood to the side, loudly judging him as well as keeping watch. Klaus would shush them and wave them off anytime he or Luther tried to tell him to hurry up and refused to move until he had everything sorted out. 

“Shush, you can’t rush fashion,” he had said, holding up two shirts which looked particularly ugly to Diego. “The longer you complain, the longer it will take.” 

“We don’t have time for this, Klaus,” Luther sighed, running a hand down his face. 

When Klaus showed no signs of caring, Diego’s patience for his brother’s strange antics began to run out. “And since when have you been such a fashionista?” Diego mocked, thinking back to some very ugly clothing choices Klaus had made throughout the years. That just got Klaus ranting about always being a fashionista, that he was the only one in the family with any damn fashion sense and that Diego and Luther just didn’t understand. 

“If you don’t hurry up, I’ll strangle you with my own two hands and leave you here for the Commission to find,” Diego said after Klaus’ showed two jackets of the exact same style to the air in front of him, asking for Ben’s opinion. 

“Oh, I’m truly flattered but I’m afraid I don’t think about you like that, brother dearest. You should probably keep your fantasies about me to yourself. You wouldn’t want to give Luther and Allison some competition,” Klaus had responded with a shit-eating grin directed towards a spluttering Luther. He winked at Diego before turning back to what he was doing. Diego just rolled his eyes. 

Eventually Klaus managed to finish whatever the hell he was doing and put all the clothes away into separate backpacks. He gathered several pairs of shoes and put them away as well. He admitted that he did not know everyone’s exact clothing or shoe sizes, but with all the things he gathered everyone should have a great selection to choose from that will last them a while before all of their clothes needed to get washed. He handed Diego and Luther two backpacks each to hold, shouldered his own two backpacks, and _ finally _ let them get on their way. 

They quickly found a laundromat in the area following the instructions Luther was given. Within the hour they had clean and dried clothes and shoes for everyone in their backpacks as well as a new change of clothes on themselves. Diego absolutely hated the clothes he had to wear. Klaus told him his straps bring way too much attention and that _you look like you’re into some kinky __shit, __if you know what I mean. _

“And where am I meant to keep my knives?” Diego had asked as a scowl appeared on his face. 

“That’s your problem,” Klaus shrugged in reply. 

Klaus told him that he absolutely must wear the clothes he picked out for him, all of which were shades of dark red, green and grey. Nothing was in pure black. Klaus told him to suck it up and stop being an emo and be happy that he did not pick out any of the bright neon colours that he found. He also said that he could always go back to pick them up if Diego was unhappy with his selection. Diego quickly bit his tongue and went to the nearest department store to change into a sweater and grey jeans with a sour look on his face. 

Reluctantly, he put the majority of his knives into his backpack. He kept as many as he could fit in his pockets, hoping they wouldn’t rip his clothes. 

Luther, on the other hand, did not complain. He came out of the bathroom changed, wearing a large hoodie and was impressed that Klaus managed to pick clothes that fit him comfortably. Klaus just rolled his eyes and said he was offended that they even doubted him. He wore a simple blue turtleneck and jeans. They definitely did not stand out as much now. They placed their old clothes into their backpacks. 

After leaving the bathroom they split up the list of things they needed to get between them and went in different directions of the department store. Diego insisted going along with Klaus, not liking the idea of leaving his brother, mid-withdrawal, to his own devices. Klaus was onto him immediately and complained about not needing to be babysat but still allowed Diego to go with him. 

They went in search for their part of the list, which included some basic things that they would need; toothpaste, toothbrushes, a flashlight, batteries, duct tape, bandages and disinfectant and other things for emergencies to name a few. 

Klaus dragged him into many different sections of the store. They met up with Luther thirty minutes later with their supplies, a shit ton of cheap snack foods, various bottles of different types of drinks, a stack of notepads, a set with 10 markers, several pairs of hats, beanies and sunglasses as well as a warning from the staff that worked there for disrupting the peace. 

They left the department store with full backpacks and three bags that they had to carry. Klaus put on a pair of sunglasses and a beanie on himself to completely hide his face, made Diego put on a pair of sunglasses on himself and placed a snapback hat onto Luther’s head. 

Lastly, they went to a random take-away down the street, where they ordered the largest meal known to mankind and had to wait a century for it to get ready. None of them had eaten in almost a full day and Diego knew that all of them would appreciate a large fatty meal. They got a little of everything; a set of burger and fries for all of them, boxes of chicken wings, chicken tenders and chicken nuggets, three kebabs, a large meaty pizza and six large drinks. It cost a fortune and a half, but thankfully they still had approximately half of their money left afterwards. They sat in a table in the corner of the small and shabby restaurant, trying to keep themselves occupied by attempting small talk and failing tragically. 

After the third awkward silence stretched between them, Klaus decided to tell them a story about some guy he went to rehab with. Diego stopped listening almost immediately, and Luther got dragged into the conversation when Klaus realized that Diego was not even pretending to be interested. Diego only tuned in when he heard the words_ flamethrower _and _three hundred cockroaches. _He decided not to ask. 

That conversation also died away into silence after Luther made his fourth disapproving comment about Klaus’ lifestyle. When Diego couldn’t take the tension anymore, he stood up and decided to go and stretch his legs while the food was still getting prepared. He left his backpacks and bags with his brothers, ignoring Luther’s question of where he was going and why was he splitting away from them and Klaus’ reply that he needed to have his hourly brooding session and to leave him be. 

He walked out and went to search the area for any better-quality places that they could stay the night. He was getting a little more familiar with the area. He knew if he turned left, he would end up by the road leading to the supermarket, and straight ahead was a pub. He went right by the intersection, trying to find areas he wasn’t familiar with. 

He found a motel building that did not look like it was about to collapse once a breeze hits it halfway across the town. Thankfully, this one did not look like the setting for a shitty horror film. This one had a fully functioning sign, and the stink of decay wasn’t enveloping the place. He walked around, checking to make sure the building was not too sketchy before being satisfied. He retraced his steps back to the intersection and walked back to the take-away. 

He returned to find his brothers waiting for him outside, their hands filled with many bags full of food. 

At long last, after making two laps around town to make sure they weren’t followed, they climbed the creaking stairs up to the room he stayed in last night with his arms cramping from carrying so many things. He immediately noticed the large cracks in the dirty window that were not there that morning and went on his guard. He maneuvered one of his hands so that he could grab one of the knives in his pocket. 

Luther, who was carrying two backpacks and four full bags without breaking a sweat, knocked on the door once he realized it was locked. He called out to the people inside that it was them and to open the door. He stepped into the room first once it was unlocked, with Klaus and Diego behind him. Once Diego confirmed that his siblings were in one piece; he closed the door with his foot and released his hold on the knife. 

He saw his sisters sitting close together on the nearest bed. They both looked exhausted and ready to collapse, with bloodshot eyes and tear stains on their cheeks. Five, who’s hair was like a bird’s nest, was on his feet and looking at them expectantly. 

Diego did not bother with a greeting as he strode into the room and immediately deposited his two backpacks and two bags onto the bed in the middle and massaged his aching shoulders. Klaus added his own baggage straight away with a happy sigh. After Luther did the same the entire bed was filled with various bags and backpacks. 

Five did not waste any time before turning to them, asking them if they ran into any trouble or if they were followed and if they got everything that they needed without so much of a hello or a thank you. 

Luther quickly told Five that no they didn’t, no they made sure they weren’t and yes they have while Diego went to sit down on the last bed. He took off his stupid sunglasses and tossed them somewhere to his right. He fell backwards onto his back so that he could stare at the ceiling and block out the noise. 

-.-.- 

Fifteen minutes later, they were all spread out around the small room. They separated their massive pile of food that could feed a small army between the six of them that were able to eat. Everyone got a burger, fries and a drink while everything else was up for grabs. 

Allison and Vanya stayed side-by-side on the bed closest to the door, leaning against each other. Each had their own box of chicken tenders, though Vanya was only picking at hers. Klaus sat bare foot and crisscrossed at the end of their bed, with an untouched box of chicken wings in front of him. He took off his beanie, while the pair of sunglasses rested on top of his head, tangled with his curls. He left a full packet of fries and a slice of pizza beside him. 

Five sat at the edge of the middle bed by himself, testing the taste of a kebab. All the remaining bags were pushed against the other side of the bed to make room for him. Luther and Diego sat on opposite ends of the last bed. Diego rested against the wooden headboard, never enjoying the taste of a bacon and cheese burger so much in his life. Luther was in front of him, devouring a burger of his own in three bites. 

No one said a word. The only sounds that filled the room throughout their meal were that of their chewing or their wrappers rustling. Allison’s marker scratching on her new notepad also occasionally made itself known. Klaus gave it to her when Five was going through their bags, cataloguing everything they bought in town. 

It reminded Diego of their dinners growing up, no talking and some stupid audio playing in the background. The tension was back again, and it got on Diego’s nerves how easily they went back to their old habits, even after so many years. Everyone kept their attention on their food, making no eye contact with anyone else. 

Diego was just finishing his last box of chicken nuggets and debating crossing the room to steal the last remaining slice of pizza from beside Klaus, when shit started going off the rails, again. 

Having decided that he had enough of the silence, Five cleared his throat. A half-finished packet of fries rested on his lap and he was lazily snacking on it when everyone zeroed their attention in on him. 

Five spent a good few minutes quizzing them about the town. He asked about the layout, any noteworthy places and potential regrouping locations. He asked if they found a new motel for them and how far away it was. Diego was the only one who gave an effort to reply to his questions. Klaus would pipe up once or twice to offer up a random comment or observation as he was sipping on his drink. Luther stayed silent, trying and failing to catch Allison’s eye across the room. 

After Five exhausted his selection of questions he could possibly ask, he steadily went onto the next topic of conversation. “While you were away, I filled in Vanya’s blanks.” Vanya looked up from her unfinished food at the mention of her name, her hunched shoulders making her appear even smaller than she already was. 

“Oh yeah?” Diego said he crunched the empty box of food into a ball in his hands. “How did that go?” 

“Could have been worse, all things considered. She was very upset, but we managed to calm her down,” Five explained. He tossed his empty packet of fries somewhere over his shoulders and stood up from the bed to stand in front of all of them. “Her powers will not be that easy for her to master, but I-” 

“What are her powers, exactly?” Diego interrupted. “What do they do?” 

Five looked annoyed about being interrupted but answered regardless. “Well, Klaus was right when he said that her powers are tied to her emotions. She converts sound into waves of energy whenever she feels a strong emotion. The sheer power of it can fog her mind, control her instead of her controlling it. Which is what happened in the vault. It took so much power for her to get out, that it was too much and it overpowered her.” 

“Damn,” Klaus muttered across the room and Diego could not help but agree. 

“Those pills the old man gave her were used to suppress her emotions. They prevented her from feeling anything strongly enough for her powers to be used. Jenkins took her pills in order to get her powers to start manifesting again.” Vanya’s eyes were narrowed as she watched their conversation. Klaus scoffed from his position on the bed, tossing his drink off the bed and lying flat on his back. He raised his hands to cover his eyes and Diego wondered if the ghosts were still bothering him. 

“Okay,” Luther spoke up. “Do you have a way to get her to control it?” 

“I have some ideas for training,” Five answered. “Start off easy, and try to build up the amount of power she can control at a time-” 

“No, that’s not what I meant,” Luther said. “Starting off easy is great and all, but we need to have a way for her to keep it under control until she trains, so she doesn’t go crazy again.” 

“I can’t just pull out a solution for Vanya out of thin air,” Five snapped. “She doesn’t have control right now. And she won’t just magically get the control she needs until she trains and learns how to use it. Did any of you have perfect control over your own powers when you first discovered them? She’ll need lots of time and practice, as well as someone with her at all times to help her stay calm and not lose control.” 

“I understand,” Luther answered. “But none of our powers have the ability to end the world, if unchecked.” 

“If I wanted advice about Vanya, Luther,” Five said venomously. “I think you’re the last person I would ask.” Luther scowled. “Kindly leave planning on how to help our sister to the rest of us, who truly have Vanya’s best interests in mind.” 

“I have the best interests of this family as a whole in mind,” Luther bristled while Diego could hear Klaus groaning into his hands. He looked over and saw Klaus slowly sitting up. “And I don’t appreciate-” 

“I have already told you,” Diego rolled his eyes and turned to face Luther on the bed. “She’s part of your family. Everyone in this room is part of your damn family, not just the select few. You don’t get to pick and choos-” 

“And what do you plan to do the next time she loses control?” Luther demanded, standing up from the bed and crossing his arms. Diego could feel himself starting to get angry all over again. Luther was one of the only people who could make Diego angry at a moment’s notice. “Because there will be a next time and-” 

“Of course, there will be a next time with you continuing to treat her like that,” Klaus spoke up. “At least pretend to see things from her point of view. Any powers based on emotion aren’t ones you can just control out of the blue. Both of us know that you’ve done some shitty things with your own powers when you were emotional. Remember the second time you asked me to summon Dad?” Klaus gave Luther a significant look. Luther looked like Klaus just punched him in the face. 

Diego was about to ask Klaus what the hell he was talking about when Allison, who was scribbling on her notepad, turned it around to allow the room to see what she had written. WE WILL FIGURE OUT WHAT TO DO IF SHE LOSES CONTROL. YOU’RE NOT HELPING BY ACTING LIKE THAT. 

Luther paused after reading it, a troubled expression taking over his face. That was the first thing she said directly to Luther since they landed here. “You’ve made it clear that I shouldn’t have locked her up. But you’ve seen what her powers can do.” 

“And what do you suggest, Luther?” Diego stood up and stomped over to where Luther was standing. Luther had his head down, as if he was thinking. 

“I just think that we should- I don’t know,” Luther said gruffly, “take precautions.” 

“We are taking-” Five began but did not get to finish. 

“Do you think we should build another vault for her?” Diego demanded. “Right here? Under a motel, 40 years in the past? Is that what you want?” 

“Don’t be stupid-” Luther said. 

“Luther, I don’t even know what your point is-” Five started again but got interrupted once again. He scowled, hands clenching at his sides. 

“Dad built a specialized chamber, just for her, and it couldn’t hold her for a day-” 

“Because Reggie made such great life choices-” Klaus put in, swinging his legs over the bed to touch the carpet. 

“He made better choices than you, Klaus, that’s for sure-” 

“Eat shit, Luther,” Klaus shot back, crossing his arms. He glared up at Luther from where he was sitting. “You’ve no idea what you’re talking about.” 

“Of course, it’s still all about dad with you, isn’t it,” Diego said, pointing a finger at Luther. “Some things never change.” 

“Diego, even you must admit that Dad was right about her-” 

“Shut up!” Vanya, who was previously watching the others argue with a sour look on her face, finally exclaimed. She took her hand out of Allison’s hold, sat up straight and clenched her fists. “I’ve been sitting right here this entire time, watching you argue over me like I’m not even here! It seems I’m still just as invisible as I was my entire life-” 

Five looked troubled, which was a strange look on him. “Vanya, don’t-” 

“No, Five,” Vanya said with so much force that Diego was momentarily taken off guard. “I think I deserve a say over what will happen to me and my powers, don’t you?” 

Five opened his mouth to answer but nothing came out. 

Vanya turned to look at Luther with hard eyes. “I’m sorry for all the damage that I did, truly. For hurting Allison, for hurting you by what I did, for hurting all of you. It’s just a shame that you’re not sorry at all for hurting me.” 

Luther looked like a deer caught in the headlights. “Vanya-” 

“But I guess that’s not very surprising, is it?” Vanya scoffed, wiping at her eyes. “You guys have hurt me my entire life and I’ve never heard a single apology. Or even a single acknowledgement. I mean, you’re also the reason why others have hurt me, too. Just look at what he did to me just to get back at you.” 

A beat of silence passed between the rest of them before Klaus asked, “what?” 

“Leonard,” she clarified. Her eyes narrowed at him. “Or Harold, or whoever he was. He didn’t care for me and only wanted to use me. To get back at you! You always have to make everything about you!” Allison looked teary-eyed again. She went to grab Vanya’s hands, but Vanya pulled away, sitting further down the bed and away from her sister. Diego could feel the air getting thicker. He shared a startled look with Five. 

“Vanya-” Five started again but didn’t get much further. 

“I actually thought that someone would like me for who I am,” she continued, sniffling. “That someone would find me special, for once in my life. But it was never about me.” 

“Now wait a second,” Diego said, trying to put his thoughts in order. “We never did anything to him.” 

“No?” Vanya asked. “Then why did he have your eyes gouged out in his attic?” 

“How are we meant to know?” Diego responded angrily. “We never knew why these bastards came after us.” 

“Yeah,” Luther agreed. “I mean, you can never know what goes through these people’s heads.” 

“What Diego and Luther are trying to say,” Klaus spoke up gently. “Is that there were plenty of crazy stalkers coming after us when we were younger-” 

“Exactly!” Vanya exclaimed, wobblily getting to her feet. The two lamps on the nightstands burst simultaneously with a startling bang. “Because he wanted to go after _you_, he went after _me!_” She gestured wildly with her hands. The walls started shaking lightly and all of them shared panicked looks. Allison tried to steady Vanya, wrapping her arms around her but Vanya just brushed her off, ignoring Allison’s hurt look. “Not because he actually liked me, but because I was connected to you! Even after so many years, I’m still stuck under your shadow! My entire life, every damn minute of it, I’ve been stuck watching all of you from the side lines! I was never good enough for you. No, I was too ordinary, too weak, too- too- too _normal _for the amazing, powerful perfect Academy kids-” 

“Vanya, hold on a sec-” Klaus went to say, but Vanya took a step away from him, standing in the middle of the room and turning wildly to look at all of them as the walls continued to shake. 

“Hold on?” Vanya repeated slowly, glaring daggers at him. “So now I can’t even talk about my problems to you? Ah, of course, because who would want to listen to me and my boring, ordinary problems-” 

“Vanya!” Five snapped, losing his patience. He glanced up, where the remains of the busted lightbulb hung from the ceiling. The wire was spinning widely. The energy in the air was almost suffocating and Diego wondered if they should be evacuating the building before people got hurt. “Come on, we’ve talked about this!” 

Allison quickly finished writing and showed her page to her sister. VANYA, PLEASE. WE DIDN’T WANT TO MAKE YOU FEEL THIS WAY! YOU ARE SPECIAL! 

“I don’t care!” She cried out, completely ignoring Allison. The window shattered with a loud crash, causing most of them to flinch. “You’ve had your say. Now I’m having mine. You have no idea how awful my life has been because of you! I was left out of everything, never allowed to take part in anything and just forced to watch you. I never had friends. Nobody cared about me. I was told my entire life that I was worth nothing compared to you all, that there was nothing special about me, that I was worthless, a liability, a waste of space! While you got to have everything you wanted; the fame, the powers, the attention from Dad-” 

“Okay, slow the hell down,” Diego said, trying to be as gentle as he possibly could. He was completely shocked to the core. He had no idea that Vanya was treated so terribly and he was fairly sure none of the others had any idea, either. All of them watched Vanya with varying levels of dismay. “You think all of us wanted that shit? Do you have any idea how brutal Dad’s training was? How-” 

“No! How could I? You never spoke to me! I was treated like I didn’t exist for most of my life by my own family-” 

“Oh, now we’re your family?” Diego couldn’t help but retort, only to receive four warning looks. “What about when you said that we weren’t a family in your stupid book-” 

“For fucks sake!” Five exclaimed, turning in place to give Diego a glare. “Diego, shut your mouth before I do it for you. Vanya, can we not do this? I already went through this with you. You’re going to cause another building to collapse. You want an apology? Okay, I’m sorry-” 

“Are you?” Vanya challenged, taking a step towards a tense Five. “Or are you just saying that because I have powers now?” Her eyes turned towards them and their distressed looks. Years of training made Diego eye the exit, thinking of the best possible way to get everyone out of the room in the shortest amount of time. Vanya then turned her eyes to the twisting wire and the busted lamps that were vibrating on the nightstands. “More powerful than all of yours, combined. That makes you all terrified. I could easily hurt you all, right now, and there’s nothing you could do.” She said all of this with an expressionless face, making Diego even more unnerved. 

“You don’t really mean that,” Luther said. “You would have already done something if you really wanted to cause us harm.” 

Vanya laughed humourlessly. “Oh really?” She turned to Luther. “You have no idea how much I want to throw you across the room for what you did to me.” 

Luther braced himself. “Then why haven’t you?” 

Vanya paused. “I don’t know.” She looked down at her hands. “I finally got the one thing I wanted more than anything else, which was to have powers. To be the same as all of you. And then to get back at you for what you did. But I-” She paused again. 

Allison tried again, showing her page. WE NEVER WANTED THIS! WE WERE JUST STUPID KIDS. LET US START OVER. 

“We never actively wanted to leave you out,” Luther said after Vanya didn’t reply to Allison’s message and silence spread. Luther had not moved from his position, but he was also eyeing the door. “But Dad always kept us busy and we were never allowed-” 

“Why do you insist on making everything about Dad?” Diego snapped at Luther. 

“Why do you insist on antagonising her about the book?” Luther snapped right back at him. 

“No, no,” Five said. “Luther, surprisingly, has a point. Don’t you see, Vanya? You don’t really want to hurt us. You’re just angry, which is understandable. We did horrible things to you. But Dad is the one who you should be angry at. All of us were only children, we did not know any better than to follow what he said. Oh, he said that Vanya was sick and had to take those pills so we must never touch them? Okay. Vanya doesn’t have powers and so she will not be with us? That makes sense, we wouldn’t want her to get hurt.” 

“Reggie was a bastard through and through, up until he died and even in the afterlife,” Klaus sighed, sounding horribly tired. “He did not have the first idea how to raise one child, not to mention seven of them. But he’s gone now and for the first time in our lives, we’re free to do whatever we want, without worrying that he might show up and take it all away. And we want to start by making up for what we did to you.” 

“Stop blaming everything on Dad!” Vanya cried out. The shaking increased, making those that were standing unsteady on their feet. Diego watched the ceiling for the first sign of collapse, being about two seconds away from shouting at everyone to get the hell out of the room, trying to talk through to Vanya be damned. “Last I checked, it wasn’t Dad who chose not to invite me to that family meeting, once again pretending like I wasn’t part of the family.” 

“Yeah, that one was on us.” Klaus answered. “We goofed that up.” 

“But we know we have made mistakes; you’ve made sure that all of us are well aware of everything we did wrong.” Five said, as calmly as he could while the walls were so close to falling apart. “Everyone in this room could have done something better. That’s why we are here. To fix our mistakes. Just calm down and let us discuss with you how we can_ fix_ it.” 

Vanya glared at all of them, unbothered by the unsteady floor. “You’re about twenty years too late.” 

“We know,” Klaus said, taking over. He tried to take a wobbly step forward towards Vanya. “But we’re finally together again. And all of us were hit in the face with our mistakes and we’d all like to try to be better.” 

Luther sighed, looking at the scene before him with uncertainty. “I- I wasn’t aware just how badly you were treated growing up. I don’t think any of us had any idea. Dad really messed up there. I understand that my actions might make my words seem pointless, but I did what I thought was necessary at the time, what I thought Dad would do.” Allison and Diego both gave him harsh warning looks. “But maybe that wasn’t the best idea, now that I see how he made you feel. Maybe if I wasn’t so brash about it, this situation might have been completely different. I’m sorry. Please let us- let me fix things.” 

Vanya looked shocked. Diego was not expecting Luther to say that. He wondered what made him change his mind, or if he was only saying that because they were probably about a minute away from having another building collapse with them inside. Allison and Five stared at Luther in consideration. 

“Just take a deep breath,” Klaus said after he got over his own bewilderment. “Think of puppies or unicorns or whatever it is that makes you happy and spare this lovely building from becoming a pile of ash.” 

“Klaus,” Five said in warning. Klaus gave him a look. 

Diego cleared his throat, trying to think of a good response. “I know you and I had not gotten along in the past. But I want to help you now. I know you don’t want to hurt us, and we don’t want to hurt you. We all made mistakes growing up and I’m sorry for how badly you were treated. We want to make up for it.” 

Vanya looked so torn. She looked around at all of them, then turned to once again look at the room. “I don’t- you don’t really mean that.” 

“We do,” Five said while Allison nodded frantically. She had been trying to slowly walk towards Vanya, her notepad in her hand. “But you’ll need to stop the shaking first, or else this will just be a repeat to what happened to the Academy. I know you can stop it.” 

“The Academy,” Vanya muttered slowly. 

“Yeah,” Klaus said, ignoring Five’s look to stay quiet. He took another step forward. “Let’s not have that happen again. Just breathe in and out, nice and slow.” 

“Mom didn’t make it out of the Academy, did she?” Vanya asked quietly. 

Diego suppressed his own emotions about Mom and nodded. “There wasn’t any time. I wanted to get her out, but I- I couldn’t. Pogo didn’t make it out either.” 

A tear slid down Vanya’s cheek. “I killed Mom. I killed Leonard. I hurt so many people.” She looked down at the shaking floor. “I shouted at you for hurting me when I also hurt you guys, back at the theatre. I thought that was what I wanted, after you hurt me, but I nearly killed you. I can’t believe I nearly killed you. I would have gone through with it, oh my god, I- I destroyed the-” 

“Don’t worry about that right now,” Klaus said quietly. “We’ll help you get better.” 

“I didn’t want to cause so much damage,” Vanya said so quietly that Diego struggled to hear her. “I don’t want to hurt you anymore. I don’t want to hurt anybody. I just wanted to stop hurting for one minute, to feel better-” 

“We know, Vanya,” Five said gently. “We’ll make sure you don’t hurt anybody again.” 

“Do you really mean that?” Vanya asked through her tears. The shaking lessened a bit, enough for the lamps to stop vibrating. 

All of them gave their own murmurs of agreement. Allison quickly wrote on her notepad and showed it to her. OF COURSE. WE LOVE YOU. YAY SISTERS? 

That was enough for Vanya to break. She let out a sob and ran into the arms of the person who was closest to her. Other than a small cry of surprise, Klaus caught her and wrapped his arms around her small shoulders. He looked over at Diego over Vanya’s head in question but Diego could only shrug helplessly. Allison wasted no time before she crossed the short distance and joined in on the hug, her own tears going down her face. 

Klaus quietly brought their crying sister back onto the bed. She sobbed into Klaus’ shoulder as Allison had her arms wrapped around the two of them. Diego was still eyeing the room, wondering if they were in the clear yet. 

For a few moments, no one spoke other than Klaus slowly guiding Vanya to breathe and calm down. The rest of them quickly gathered around them. They sat around, close enough to count but far away enough to not overwhelm her. They offered their own forms of comfort in whatever way they could. Watching Vanya break down for the second time that day really slapped him in the face about how vulnerable she was. He did not know how to help. 

This was not what he was good at. He protected his family by going head first and attacking whoever dared to go after them. That was his thing, not comforting the damage their upbringing caused them. Diego had channeled his own damage and trauma into hate and a will to fight and did not know how to go about addressing and fixing it. He looked around at the others, wondering if they had any idea what to do or if they were all just a bunch of clueless bastards. 

“I know that you guys probably hate me for everything that I've done-” Vanya spoke after a few minutes, her voice thick with tears. “With the book and with me nearly killing you and no matter how many times I apologize; it just won’t be enough-” 

“Woah, slow your roll there, sis,” Klaus interrupted, holding Vanya by the shoulders so that he could look her in the eye. “We don’t hate you.” 

Vanya blinked in confusion, “you don’t?” 

If she asked this a week earlier, Diego would have been the one to agree with Vanya. He was so pissed off when the book came out. He just could not believe that Vanya would publish all their issues like that, for the entire world to see and judge. She had no right, not when she never fully knew what they all went through. She didn’t know about the training and the missions, with so much gunfire and having to fight people three times your age and size just because your father told you to. 

Where any wrong move could be your or your siblings’ undoing. 

She took things from her perspective, making it out to seem like fact. She made their family out to seem like they wanted to isolate her, to treat her like shit. She may have gotten a few things right, about being their father’s creation, but the fact that she had the gall to say that they were not a family after everything they went through made him want to go find her house and punch her in the face. 

The fact that they all went through the same upbringing together made them a family. They were connected to each other, growing up under the same nightmarish roof, all of them being freaks of nature who would never be considered normal and always separated from everyone else because they could do things no one else could. 

No matter what they did, they could never run away from their history together or the fact that Hargreeves was one of the most well-known names of their time, with everyone and their grandmother recognizing their superhero names. 

And even though Diego would rather claw his eyes out than admit this out loud, his siblings were the only people he had left. They were the only people who could truly know him, know where he came from and understand his childhood as they went through the rise and fall of being a child hero right alongside him. They may not be overly close or even like each other very much, but they were still family. They were all weighed down by the Hargreeves name and its reputation. 

A week ago, Diego would have cursed Vanya’s name for exposing the shit they went through and making a profit out of it. He would have sworn at her, told her that she was damn right that he hated her. He would have been furious that she even dared to try and stand there with them. That she dared to live her life without a care in the world, while all her siblings were out there, each with their own issues. That she tried to make it seem like she was the only one in the family who was treated unfairly. 

But now, Diego could not say that. 

“No,” Diego said after a long moment. “We- I don’t hate you.” 

He saw just how fucked up Vanya’s life truly was. Just how much she has suffered. They left her out of everything, made her feel like she was less than them just because she did not have powers. She was told her entire life that she wasn’t anything special. Beaten down and never allowed to stand up because their father was just as much of a monster to her as he was to the rest of them, just in a different way. 

He supposed that made it seven for seven. All of them, all messed up in different ways by the same man. It was like some kind of messed up rite of passage in their family. 

It would take a while for Diego to fully forgive her for the book. But he supposed that it would take Vanya a while to fully forgive the rest of them for treating her horribly. For now, his sister needed him. And Diego always helped and protected his family. It was what he was good at, even years later, though he may not have any idea where to start with Vanya. 

“Vanya,” Five called out after Allison held up her notepad, with WE DON’T HATE YOU! written in huge letters and underlined three times. Vanya looked up at him. He looked like he was trying to phrase what he was going to say. “I’m sure I speak for everyone when I say that we are very sorry about how we treated you growing up. But we want to try to make it better. Make up for the past and start over. This is why we are here. To help you. Isn’t that right?” 

There was another quiet murmur of agreement throughout the room. 

More tears ran down her face. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry! All I ever wanted was to be there with you guys. I just wanted you to be proud of me, to- to accept me.” 

Allison hugged her again. The entire scene was making his eyeballs sting. The walls shook gently around them. 

“Hey now,” Klaus said quietly. He looked teary-eyed himself. “We _are_ proud of you. What’s there not to be proud of? Our sister is a talented and badass violinist who is just as extraordinary as anyone else, powers or no. We were just blind to not really see it until now.” 

Allison put up her notepad. POWERS DEFINED US BUT YOU MADE A LIFE FOR YOURSELF WITHOUT THEM. She smiled at her sister. She took one of Vanya’s hands in her own again. 

“Meaning you already one-upped the rest of us,” Klaus grinned at his sister, who was still tangled in his arms. “Plus, you were just as special and as much of a badass even when you didn’t have powers. Remember that time when we were eleven and that baby bird flew into your window? You wanted to keep it and take care of it, but Five, Ben and I thought that it was a stupid idea and tried to talk you out of it. You put your foot down and gave us the scolding of a lifetime where you said that all life is precious and deserves to be given a chance. My god, you really put us in our place.” 

Vanya smiled sadly at him. 

“And,” Diego said. “That time you blackmailed me when you found out that I was the one stealing Five’s favourite yoghurts from the fridge every night and blamed it on Luther-” 

“That was _you_?” 

“-and made me teach you how to throw my knives so that you wouldn’t tell anybody. Wow, I almost couldn’t recognize you!” 

Vanya nodded, smiling. “I still remember your face when I got that bullseye by accident.” The walls have mostly stopped shaking, meaning they were in the clear. 

“Just another example of you being special without powers,” Diego replied, smiling at his smallest sister. Both literally and metaphorically. Even though the majority of them were all the same age, Diego and Luther always considered themselves to be the oldest. While Ben and Vanya were always the unofficial baby siblings of the family, with Klaus stuck right in the centre as the middle child. 

“I’m sorry, again, for everything,” Vanya said, sitting back from Klaus to face the rest of them. “For attacking you, for putting us in this situation, for making it seem like I hated you guys. I was just so angry and I just got lost in it. I’ve never felt like that before.” 

“That’s probably because you’re finally off your pills,” Five stated from where he stood in front of Vanya. “Your emotions are no longer suppressed and you feel things properly for the first time in a long time.” 

Nodding, Vanya rubbing at her eyes. “I’ll work hard to get control of these emotions and powers, I swear. I don’t want to endanger you guys again. I’m sorry for accusing you of making my life miserable.” 

“But we did,” Luther confessed. “Whether we wanted to or not, we did. That’s on us.” 

“We’ll work on your powers,” Five said. “We’ll take precautions,” he looked to Luther. “There will be no more vaults or pills or secrets. No more competition. We’re not like Dad. I know that you’re aware just how destructive your powers can be, and so you’ll have to work with us in order to guarantee everyone’s safety until you get enough control.” 

Vanya nodded again. “I will. Also, I especially need to apologize to you, Five.” 

“Me?” Five asked. “Why?” 

“I caused the apocalypse. I’m the reason you spent forty years by yourself and-” 

“You don’t need to apologize for that. It wasn’t this version of you that caused my apocalypse-” 

“Still!” Vanya insisted. “I still destroyed the moon. I would have killed all of you. You spent your life in a wasteland because of my powers. I’m sorry.” 

Five huffed. “And I’m sorry for how we made you feel lesser than us. You’re our sister. That should have been enough. I’m sorry that it took the end of the world for us to realize it.” 

Allison raised her page. WE’LL BE BETTER THIS TIME. 

“Yes, yes, you’re sorry, we’re sorry,” Klaus interrupted, happily bringing Vanya in for another hug. “Everyone’s sorry and we will all try our very best to be better from now on. Family. Love. All that jazz. You don’t hate us, we don’t hate you, Luther was an idiot. Glad that’s all out in the open.” 

The offended look on Luther’s face was enough to make Vanya chuckle through her tears. 

“Hey,” Luther protested, but it was halfhearted. 

“We’ll work on him later,” Klaus waved him off. “He’ll come around fully eventually.” 

Vanya looked at all of them. “I- I love you guys. Even after everything. Leonard made me think that you guys wanted to hurt me and I hate to think that I actually believed him-” 

“Forget about him,” Diego said. “He was an asshole. And you shouldn’t listen to assholes-” 

“_You’re _an asshole, too, you realize-” 

“-Plus, we didn’t give you much reason to not believe him,” Diego continued, completely ignoring Klaus. “That’s also on us.” 

“Alright,” Five said awkwardly. “All of us messed up. We all love each other, whatever.” 

“Yay team!” Klaus cheered. He raised his two hands and gestured for Allison and Vanya to give him a high five. He whooped out loud when they did. 

Five rolled his eyes. “Can we finally address the fact that we need to get to another motel as the window is busted so anyone could listen in to us?” 

“Sounds good to me,” Diego said, standing up. “You should get changed.” 

Diego would forever remember that evening as the turning point for when everything began to change. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter gave me so much trouble and took ages to write so I hope the finished product is alright.


	4. close calls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diego trying to be a good brother for nearly 17k words

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> apologies if this chapter seems a teeny bit rushed, i wanted to make sure to get it finished in time to commemorate the release of season 2. I'm still about 2 days late unfortunately. I hope it's enjoyable anyway!

CHAPTER IV 

Heart pounding and feeling his muscles burn, Diego took the stairs two at a time. 

His footsteps echoed on the metal underfoot, and the warm sunlight made the outside of the building appear almost golden. The clouds floating around in the sky were few and far between, with only a flock of birds contrasting against the pale sky. Diego quickly reached his floor, scanning the multiple doors one after another to locate the room he was staying in. The air felt thick and humid, but maybe that was only because Diego was horribly warm and in desperate need for a cold shower. 

He nearly walked right past his room before stopping mid step and double-checking his room number. Wiping his sweaty hands on his pants, he entered once he took the key out of his back pocket. 

Taking one glance around as he kicked the door closed behind him, he gave the small motel room a quick once-over. The room was sprayed in a gentle pink colour, light entering through deep red curtains that covered the windows. The bathroom door was open and he found Klaus to be the only person in the room, with no sign of the others. His brother sat crisscrossed in the middle of his unmade bed, looking for all the world like he was meditating in his large sweater. His head leaned to the side, hair falling over his forehead and covering his eyes. 

He looked up upon Diego’s arrival, dropping his hands onto his knees. 

“Everything alright?” Diego asked after remembering to say a general greeting to Ben, wherever he may be. Stepping towards where his backpack sat innocently on top of his bed; he took out a water bottle, unscrewing the cap in one quick motion. 

Klaus hummed in reply, stretching his arms over his head. “How was your run?” 

“Fine,” Diego said around the bottle in his mouth, gulping down half of it in one go. He enjoyed letting out some of the restless energy he stored up yesterday by staying in one place for too long. Nobody would give a random jogger on the street a second glance, allowing him to not have to worry too much about attracting attention. He tried to get Klaus to come with him, as some exercise would do him some good, but he shot Diego down quite adamantly, saying he was not feeling up to it because he had a killer headache. One look at his heavy eyes, pale face and bowed shoulders showed that Klaus meant it, so he let it go. He would wait a few days before asking again, knowing that it was important for Klaus to try and get back into shape. “How’s the headache, by the way?” 

“Could be worse,” he said simply, waving his hand in dismissal. And then he opened his mouth to let out a deep yawn, bringing his hand up to cover his mouth. 

Diego’s lips turned down into a frown as he lowered his bottle. “Tired?” 

He shrugged in reply, flopping backwards to lie on his back and stare at the ceiling. “I’m alright, no worse than when you asked this morning.” He waved his hand again in his general direction. Diego wished he was better at knowing whether Klaus was lying or not. 

Crushing the empty bottle, Diego threw it further up the bed. He supposed he would have to trust Klaus to not be lying right now. 

Not being in the mood for any further attempts at small talk, he decided to focus on that shower he had been craving for ages. He leaned over his backpack once more, picking out some dry clothes. He noticed that he had maybe two days' worth of portable food left, meaning he would have to check in with the others before going back to restock. Diego quickly gathered his clothes into his hands and walked towards the bathroom. 

The shower was just what he needed, leaving him feeling refreshed. It also left him with nothing to do, meaning he was back to square one. He walked out of the bathroom ten minutes later, rubbing a towel through his hair and wondering if now was the time for Diego to brave the dangerous waters of familial reconnection. He avoided the worst of it so far, but his options were quickly decreasing. Or maybe he should see if Allison was willing to play some hangman or something to pass the time, since he would not have to actually talk to her. 

Contrary to his previous belief, the worst part of being stranded in time was not the fear of being attacked at any given second. Instead, it was the mind-numbing boredom from not having anything to do. There were only so many things they could do while stuck inside a building with limited possessions and waiting for their brother to get his powers in order. 

Five told them that since they were not meant to be there in the first place, they don’t have anything to do. Nothing to change. That was why they had to wait and make sure they did not cause a chain of unnecessary changes across the timeline and get them recognized by the Commission. He said that their best plan was doing nothing. 

Diego, unused to having to sit around and do nothing, naturally disagreed with this plan. His disagreements went completely ignored by Five, unfortunately. 

Klaus looked over at Diego as he chucked his sweaty clothes into their makeshift laundry basket that was literally just a plastic bag. He could do what he did yesterday and try to talk to Klaus, and Ben by extension, since they have already, somehow, reconciled. Diego still did not fully know how they managed that, but whatever. Klaus, however, did not always make for good distraction. Diego began to notice how easily his brother’s focus shifted, voice trailing off and eyes widening. So far, he had been unsuccessful in getting Klaus to talk to him about it fully. 

He looked around the small room, debating his options. Noticing the empty room, he suddenly remembered something important. “Where are Luther and Allison?” He asked them to keep an eye out for Klaus while he went out, just in case. He would have expected them to be here, but maybe they just checked in from their room every once in a while. 

“Out,” Klaus said, once again lying backwards. His hands knit together over his stomach while his long legs leaned over the edge. “They went to get brunch somewhere, to a café, I think. I don’t know, I stopped listening pretty quickly. I wonder if it’s their version of a date.” He chuckled at his own comment. “A brunch date. How fitting.” 

Diego did a double take. “What? They went- they left you?” 

“Nah,” Klaus told the ceiling. “They invited me to come with them, but I wasn’t in the mood to third wheel so I insisted to stay.” He chuckled again. Diego was glad that he at least found the situation funny, because Diego sure didn’t. “Can you imagine if it is a date? Yeah, there’s no way I’m witnessing that. No sir.” 

“But-” Diego cut himself off. He specifically requested for those two to keep an eye for Klaus and distract him, and make sure that he didn’t have an opportunity to sneak away. He knew that it would not take much for Klaus to give into temptation. Diego would hate for Klaus to be by himself during a particularly bad moment and have a moment of weakness undo all the progress he made. He suddenly had a very big urge to have some words with Luther and Allison, his previous musings about finding something to do forgotten. “You’ve been by yourself this whole time?” 

“Don’t worry about it,” Klaus said, sitting up to look at him with narrowed eyes. “I told you I don’t need a babysitter.” 

“That’s not what this is about-” 

“Whatever,” Klaus rolled his eyes. “Go away, will you? I quite liked not having you around. I was going to spend some quality time with Bentacles,” his eyes drifted to the space beside the bathroom, before looking back at Diego. “You know, powers and stuff. I have a friendly neighbourhood dead brother to try and bring to the physical plane of existence and I work much better without company,” he finished with some jazz hands, pushing his legs back into a crisscross. 

“Would you go to Five’s room at least?” Diego asked. “I’m willing to bet some good money that both Five and Vanya are about as distracting as a brick wall at the moment.” The two of them have been hard at work with trying to get a good start at controlling Vanya’s powers and finding a way out of here. Last time he saw him, Five looked fully holed up in a bubble of his own creation, sitting in the middle of an unmade bed, surrounded by a mountain of calculations, books and empty coffee cups. 

“What part of ‘I work better without company’ did you miss?” Klaus raised an eyebrow, pulling a sour face. “Please just leave. I really don’t want anyone else around right now.” 

“Klaus,” Diego took a deep breath. “I’d feel much better-” 

Klaus fully scowled now. “And I’d feel much better if you left,” he snapped, causing Diego to blink at the rapid mood change. “God, sometimes I'm so tired of having you all around me all the time, with no break. I know all about you keeping track of me. You’re not my keeper,” he stood up and clenched his jaw. “I’m not about to run away and die in a gutter somewhere, alright? I just need some time alone.” He finished with a harsh point in the direction of the front door. “Go bother Luther and Allison if you’re that desperate for conversation.” 

Diego levelled Klaus with a glare. Klaus glared right back. Nobody said anything for several moments. 

Klaus sighed, then tried to compromise. “I’ll even give you the extra key so you can lock the door to prove that I’m not going to go anywhere.” 

“Nice try,” Diego scoffed. “I know you can pick locks.” 

Klaus shrugged, “it’s the thought that counts. Please, Diego. Just trust me. Give me an hour, at least.” 

Diego stared at Klaus for another few seconds. He took note of how desperate Klaus looked, how tired. His eyes weren’t unfocused and he could not see his fingers twitching at all, which were Diego’s biggest tells for when Klaus was not doing well. Hoping he was not making a huge mistake, he relented, “an hour. If you’re not here by the time I'm back, I don’t care where you are, I will find you.” 

His brother sagged in relief, “oh thank fuck.” Klaus then proceeded to practically drag him out the door, barely throwing an “adios” at him before the door was slammed in his face. Diego stood outside, blinking dumbly at the door for a moment before huffing in annoyance. He wondered if it was too late to ask for a refund and get a different brother in exchange. 

Turning away from the door and walking towards the stairs, Diego wondered which direction he should go in order to reach the café where, supposedly, Luther and Allison were having brunch. All he had eaten that day was a random granola bar he found in his bag before his jog. He could go for brunch. 

Mapping out the small town in his head, he tracked down the closest cafés surrounding their motel. By process of elimination, he should find those two in one of them, eventually. 

He found them at a tiny yellow building with large windows in the front, that allowed you to view the interior. Two sets of brown tables and chairs were set out in the front, decorated with small potted plants. The overhanging roof provided shade from the sunlight. Diego looked into the window, picking out Luther’s enormous shoulders in an instant. 

Entering the quaint little place, he scanned out the inside. Only three tables were occupied, with his siblings sitting in the corner beside the entrance to the bathroom. Lights hung from the ceiling on long chords and stone pillars stretched along the walls. 

Sliding out a chair, Diego sat down in the one beside Luther. The two of them jumped in place, looking at him in surprise. Feeling a touch of childish satisfaction at startling them, he smiled with too many teeth and rested his elbows on the table. Allison had a plate with half-eaten French toast beside her notepad, holding a paper cup in her hand. Luther, on the other hand, had a large plate that appeared mostly finished. Diego could make out some leftover fried eggs and sausages. 

He pretended to not notice their growing annoyance, sitting back in his chair to make himself more comfortable. 

Luther and Allison shared a glance. 

After the silence began to weigh on top of them like a stone, Luther sighed and dropped his fork with a clang. “What are you doing here, Diego?” 

Diego frowned. “Am I not allowed to sit here?” 

Luther cleared his throat, “no, that’s not- We were just surprised, is all. Is everything alright at the motel?” 

“No,” Diego was not even trying to be polite. “I remember asking you to not leave Klaus by himself.” 

“Klaus can make his own decisions,” Luther replied as Allison settled her cup on the table. “He didn’t want to come. Who were we to stop him?” 

“I thought making people do things they didn’t want to was your thing,” Diego said, not being able to stop himself. 

Allison gave him a dirty look while Luther was unimpressed. “If he’s as serious about staying sober as you say, leaving him alone for a while shouldn’t be a problem.” 

Diego gritted his teeth, “that’s not the point. Look, I get that you may not be Klaus’ biggest fan, which is stupid-” 

“What are you talking about?” Luther asked as Allison resumed eating her French toast with an eyeroll. 

“You know exactly what I’m talking about,” Diego stated. “You never fail to make your opinions known about Klaus. I don’t care what you think of him, he is still your brother and I recall-” 

“When did you two become such best friends?” Luther asked, looking genuinely curious. He picked his fork back up to finish his meal. 

“Klaus was always my friend,” Diego said. “We just had quite the set of adventures together. And it helped that he saved my life and I saved him from getting beat up by veterans.” 

Luther looked at him flatly, while Allison picked up her notepad. HE SAVED YOUR LIFE? 

Diego nodded, “pretty much. Twice, I think. Though I'm not sure if that was Ben or him since Klaus made him manifest. Anyway, that’s not important,” He placed his cheek on his fist, elbow at the edge of the table. “I don’t know what the official range is, for when people are most likely to relapse, but I would bet that Klaus is close to it. He needs us there to make sure he doesn’t.” 

“What do you plan to do if he does?” Luther wondered. “Tie him to a chair?” 

“If that’s what it takes,” Diego replied easily. Allison huffed out a laugh. “I’ve been telling him to get sober back before all of us even left, and now he is and I’m not letting that go. I’m not going to let him let it go.” 

IT MAY NOT BE UP TO YOU, Allison wrote. She turned a page. YOU CAN'T JUST FORCE HIM. 

“It was him who made the call to get sober, I had nothing to do with it,” Diego said, tapping his fingers on the wooden table. “I’m just making sure it sticks.” 

I GET THAT, Allison twirled her pen around her fingers as she showed her hurried response. 

“Is following him around like he’s your mother really the best way to achieve that?” Luther asked around a mouthful of egg. 

“If I think of something else, I’ll let you know,” Diego did not rise to Luther’s bait. They were better than this now. Maybe. Possibly. 

“Uh- Is this your weird way of trying to be a hero?” A line appeared between Luther’s brows as he frowned. 

Diego pursed his lips. “I’m not trying to be a hero. I’m trying to help-” 

“It’s okay,” Luther interrupted, once again dropping his fork. “I understand, I think. It helps to focus on something you can do in a situation out of your control.” 

Blinking, Diego did not know what to say. 

Luther shrugged his giant shoulders. “I guess I’ll try to help, though I don’t know how. I don’t think there’s much I can do for him. Him and I aren’t that close.” 

Diego paused, eyes widening as he remembered something. Luther looked at him in confusion as Diego stared at the wall for a second. Allison followed their conversation with her eyes, chewing on her toast. “Right, whatever. There’s something else.” 

Luther looked more confused, “what?” 

“I tried asking Klaus yesterday, but he refused to say anything on the subject,” Diego said, trying to sound conversational and watching for Luther’s reaction. “And before I try to bully it out of him, I'm here asking you. Tell me, what exactly did Klaus mean when he mentioned your second attempt to get him to summon Dad?” 

Diego saw Luther’s eyes widen in surprise. Allison shifted in front of them, looking over at him with her eyebrows raised, taking another bite. Luther looked between Diego and Allison for a few seconds before he let out a resigned sigh. “It- I mean- Did Klaus really not say anything?” 

“Not a peep,” Diego said. “He’s only tight lipped about anything he really shouldn’t be tight lipped about. So, do tell.” 

“Huh,” Luther said, looking like the food he just ate was about to come back up for a round two. “Okay, before you freak out, I regret my actions and I wasn’t myself at the time-” 

“So, you did do something,” Diego concluded. He knew it was a weird thing for Klaus to mention something like that, especially in such a sensitive topic of conversation. He laced his hands on the table, waiting. “Alright, out with it.” 

“Er- yeah I suppose I did do something.” Luther took a second to gather his thoughts. Then he looked away from both of them, looking at the far wall where a clock was ticking away. “I’m not proud of it. I was just so- so_ angry _at Dad for making me waste four years of my life for nothing and I wanted him to answer to me for it,” Luther told them, speaking quickly. 

“Luther,” Diego pressed, wanting him to get to a point. “What did you do?” 

“I-” Luther sighed again, running a large hand down his face. “I got drunk,” he hesitated. “I was wallowing in my own misery and then Klaus came up to me asking for- fuck, I don’t even know. He wanted me to do something for him, and instead I told him to summon Dad. I got angry at him when he said that he couldn’t, and I tried to make him try anyway by- by grabbing him. I hurt him, and I don’t even know what came over me.” 

Diego took a second to process his words. Once he did, he felt his face twisting. “You-” he paused, not being able to believe it. He could see Allison dropping her toast in her haste to get her notepad in the corner of his eye. “You_ hurt _Klaus?” He repeated, making sure he was not hearing things. “Hurt him how?” 

Luther closed his eyes, sitting back from the table. “I- I think I choked him, and- and when that didn’t work, I wanted to go out and forget about my problems. I told him I wanted to be like him and planned to get high and when he tried to stop me, I pushed him across the room.” 

WHAT THE HELL? was written on Allison’s page in mere seconds. Luther cringed. 

“You- You-” Diego struggled to form a proper sentence. “You choked Klaus?_ Choked _? What the fuck is wrong with you?” 

“I wasn’t- I didn’t-” Luther tried to say. “I was drunk-” 

Allison turned her notebook around. YOU COULD HAVE KILLED HIM! She looked shaken down to her core, which Diego supposed made sense. He could feel himself shaking too, with the knowledge that he could have lost another sibling, just like that. 

“That’s no excuse!” Diego replied, feeling some extreme type of rage where he just sat still, staring at Luther. He could feel his fingers tingling. “You- Oh my God- How- how could you just-” He did not even know how to form a response. “You went around preaching about how Vanya is so horribly dangerous because she accidently hurt Allison with powers she just found out she had while-” Diego had to pause to take a deep breath. “While you did the exact same thing with powers you had your entire life? On _purpose?_” 

“I didn’t do it on purpose!” Luther interjected. “I didn’t mean-” 

Diego didn’t let him finish. “I can’t believe- Weren't you always the one to lecture us about only using our powers against each other during training? Oh God you’re the biggest hypocrite I have ever met-” 

KLAUS COULD HAVE DIED! Allison’s notebook said. She flipped a page. YOUR STRENGTH DOESNT DECREASE JUST BECAUSE YOU’RE DRUNK. 

“You don’t get to walk around and take your anger against Dad on the rest of us, you hear me? Not a single one of us did that to you when we all came to the same conclusion about how much of a monster Dad was!” Diego cried, pointing a finger at his brother. His voice attracted one of the other customers to look over in their direction and Diego had to painfully swallow. This was a horrible place for another one of their fights. He deliberately lowered his voice. “I don’t care if you were drunk or not, your case is nothing like Vanya’s. You need to-” 

“I know that!” Luther snapped. “Of course, I know that! I feel horrible about it. I had one hell of a horrible week and I had one problem stack up on top of the other and I took my grief on my brother- do you know how shitty I feel?” 

“Not shitty enough, apparently. Did you even try to apologise to Klaus?” 

Luther’s wince was an answer in and of itself. Diego had to sit on his hands so that he wouldn’t be tempted to throw a punch. 

“Of course, you haven’t,” Diego said, scoffing. “Because why should you? You apologised to Vanya, but that was only when she was about to drop a building on top of us. You even completely disregarded him in the bowling alley. I wonder how Klaus can still look you in the eye.” 

YOU’RE UNBELIEVABLE. Luther winced again. Allison proceeded to discard her notepad on the table in favour of just glaring at Luther in pure disapproval. 

“I was going to apologise,” Luther told them. “But I didn’t know how to bring it up, and I didn’t see Klaus much yesterday and still, Klaus never mentioned the whole thing before-” 

“I don’t think you realise this,” Diego continued, pretending Luther had not spoken. “But you’ve been a straight up asshole the whole time since Dad died. You accused us of killing him, wanted to shut Mom down, got into a drunken funk once you found out Dad wasn’t nearly as perfect as you were led to believe, you hurt Klaus. You hurt Vanya and you insisted she was dangerous once we landed.” He counted on his fingers. He looked up at Luther’s troubled face. “Do you plan to make a habit of hurting everyone around you? Do we really mean that little to you?” 

“I thought we agreed to start over,” Luther replied, voice small. Allison, for maybe one of the first times ever, seemed to be in complete agreement with Diego. He didn’t feel overly smug about it, if he was being honest. 

“How do you plan to start over when you haven’t even acknowledged some of the things you did?” Diego raised an eyebrow. “A lot of our bullshit is out in the open already, and we’re slowly trying to move on, yes. But we can’t just sweep everything under the rug-” 

Luther averted his gaze, sagging his shoulders. “I’m- I know I’ve been a horrible brother. But- I’m trying, alright? I don’t how to-” 

“Well, I can tell you that I won’t be winning any ‘brother of the year’ awards either,” he said. “And yet I've never tried to kill my siblings because I got a little upset. Cut them, sure. But never like that. That’s not being a bad brother. That’s a whole other ball game.” 

Clenching his eyes shut, Luther looked away. His shoulders were trembling. 

“I already lost Eudora,” Diego was on a roll, enjoying letting out some of his anger. “Dad died, Pogo died. Mom was dead, then came back only for me to lose her again. One of my siblings is already dead and the rest of them have nearly died multiple times in the last week. I refuse to lose anyone else. I refuse, Luther. You could have killed Klaus just because you were careless. You could have killed Vanya. You need to get your shit together, do you understand?” 

“I get it,” Luther said, looking down at his lap. “I’m sorry.” His voice broke, and his frame shook with the effort to hold in his tears. 

Diego nodded, taking a calming breath. In a distant corner of his mind he wondered how he and Luther always found themselves here. Over and over again. It was like a never-ending cycle between them, since they learned what exactly the numbering system Dad gave them meant. Once he learned that he would have to go his entire life being second best to Luther. 

They had never gotten along, not really. No matter what went on, they always found something to argue about. There was always something Luther was better at, faster at. He would push Diego down, showing everyone just how superior he was, beating Diego again and again and again until he had nothing but random pieces of spite and anger to show for all his efforts. 

He spent his entire childhood trying to catch up to Number One in vain. His greatest desire for so long was to be recognized as equal to Luther. Wanted nothing more to have the title of Number One for himself, to prove that he would be better at it than Luther ever was. 

Recently however, he felt quite relieved that he never succeeded. Relief so great flooded him to know he did not have the Number One title placed on his shoulders. Looking at Luther, who once looked so strong and formidable, a pillar of strength and bravery for all of them reduced to being so defeated, so hurt, that title felt like nothing more than a curse. 

Number Two grew up with nothing but disappointment and anger, while Diego found support in Klaus, and the family that he once resented. Number One grew up with the one thing the rest of them wanted, acknowledgment from Dad, compliments and attention was given to him while the rest of them had to beat each other down for even a scrap of what Number One received regularly. Luther, however, had nothing. All he got for a lifetime of commitment to their father was an ape body and a broken soul. 

Diego had beaten Luther down so far into the dirt several times over the past few days and he did not feel as pleased about it as he once would have. He knew Luther could be so much more than this. So much more than the broken man sitting beside him, crushed by the guilt of his own actions. He used to be, before Dad got his grubby little hands on him. He deserved more than this. They all deserved more. 

It was easy to forget that Luther wasn’t like their father. He wasn’t a monster. He was just like the rest of them, a child who wanted nothing more than please their parent. 

Their conversation from two days ago rang in his mind. For all his faults, Luther was still his brother. And Diego did not want to lose another brother, even one with a stick shoved so far up his ass. The guilt he had over failing his family so many times felt crushing at times and he promised himself that he would do better. If he had to pull his family together with his own two hands, he would do it. He had to. They were all he had. 

Deciding he owed Luther this much, Diego reached out to grab his shoulder. “Hey, listen to me,” Luther looked up, albeit reluctantly, looking as if he was prepared for more shouting. His eyes swam with unshed tears. Diego steeled his resolve and hoped he knew what he was doing. “Remember that time Ben sprained his ankle? I think we were about ten? Maybe nine. Anyway, we were trying to play some game in the courtyard and Ben stepped on a root. Klaus and I freaked out because Ben couldn’t walk properly and we were about as bright as a busted lightbulb back then, so we didn’t know what was wrong with Ben. We came in screaming how Ben must be dying because his foot was swollen and in you come. You calm us down, pick Ben up as gently as you can and you bring him to Mom.” 

Luther blinked, reaching up to rub at his eyes while a soft smile made its way onto Allison’s face. “Where are you going with this?” 

“I remember how you used to hole yourself up in the library and read like five different books on anatomy and sicknesses even though you didn’t understand it properly. I asked you about it and you said you wanted to help Mom take care of us. You said it was your job. You used that knowledge you somehow acquired and you helped Ben get better. You insisted that Mom let you help bandage his leg. We used to make fun of you when you were dubbed Mom’s medical assistant, running errands for her or checking up on Ben whenever she was recharging to make sure he was fine. The second one of us so much as sneezed, you would come up and ask what was wrong. You used to say you didn’t want us to get sick and slow missions down, but we all knew you were just worried.” 

Allison, who was writing for a solid minute, interjected. YOU WOULD ALWAYS MAKE EXCUSES FOR CARING FOR US, AS IF YOU NEEDED A REASON TO CARE. 

“Or, another time. I don’t remember how old we were here, maybe like thirteen. I heard the story from Klaus, who was there, but I know Vanya got hurt. I think she slipped?” 

“Lost her balance carrying a stack of books down the stairs,” Luther murmured. 

“Yeah, that,” Diego said. “Maybe Klaus startled her enough to fall, or she lost her footing, I don’t know. Klaus told me, in some roundabout way I had to decode, that she banged her head against the banister and had a mild concussion. Klaus went to get help and you run up to her the second you hear about it, like a man on a mission, and you pick her up and take her to Mom. And, like with Ben, you insisted to help.” 

Luther fidgeted with his sleeves. 

“You were always making sure we were fine on missions. You kept tabs on all of us, and you were there the second we needed help, most of the time. Five got grazed by a bullet in one of our earlier missions and you looked about ready to have a breakdown because you were so worried. I remember you once sneaking Klaus some leftover dinner with Ben when he got sent to bed early, because you knew he hadn’t eaten anything that day.” 

YOU WERE OUR BIG BROTHER, Allison told him. YOU WERE ALWAYS THERE WHEN WE NEEDED YOU. 

“I know it used to piss me off how much you acted like a goody-two shoes with us, always ready to help,” Diego admitted with a chuckle. “I thought you were doing it to annoy me and rub it in my face. But I know now that you were just trying to be a good brother,” he locked his gaze to Luther’s. “You are capable of being good, Luther. Believe it or not, we all saw you as someone dependable. Dad just tried to get rid of that particular habit, because he was an asshole and you didn’t know any better. You deserved better than that. You didn’t deserve to be used by Dad like you were. You were stuck with him far longer than the rest of us, and we just left you there. I’m sorry for that.” 

Looking at a complete loss for words, Luther opened and closed his mouth multiple times, having a strong resemblance to a gaping fish. 

Across from him, Allison smiled. She showed him her notepad while Luther continued to stare into the void. LOOK AT YOU ACTING ALL GROWN UP! I’M SO PROUD. 

Diego just rolled his eyes. “Yeah, well. I never thought I’d say those words to him, ever.” 

THANK YOU FOR THAT. WHAT HE DID WAS WRONG BUT HE NEEDED TO HEAR THAT. 

He nodded. He went to reply, but Allison just whacked him gently with her notepad, continuing to write. 

I WOULDN’T HAVE BEEN ABLE TO DO THAT FOR HIM. NOT UNTIL I CAN SPEAK AGAIN. I FEEL USELESS WITHOUT MY VOICE. 

Suppressing a wince at the mention of her injury, Diego glanced at her neck. She took off the bandage, leaving a nasty red scar peeking over the edge of her turtleneck. She had to wait another good while before she could slowly begin talking again. Diego tried to think of an appropriate answer. “Having your voice would certainly help us right now. But you’re just as much of a brat as when you could speak, so I don’t see much of a difference.” 

Allison glared at him in mock-offense. SEE IF I EVER TRY TO COMPLIMENT YOU AGAIN! 

Diego raised an eyebrow. “Sure,” Diego looked back at Luther, just as passionately acting like a fish. He reached out to poke him. “You still with us?” 

“I just-” Luther whispered after about fifteen seconds. “I don’t know what to say.” 

“Then don’t say anything,” Diego said, crossing his arms. “But I know that caring Luther is still in there, and I’m sure I speak for everyone when I say that it’s about time he came back. Caring isn’t something you should have been ashamed of.” 

“I-” Luther paused, nodding. “Of course, but- how? What am I supposed to do? How should I even start?” 

“Well, first things first,” Diego answered as if it were obvious. “You should actually apologise to Klaus and not belittle him at every opportunity. You know he’s trying to get better.” 

“Okay,” Luther nodded, already livening up. “Yeah, of course. I’ll do that.” 

“He may not have made the best decisions growing up, but neither have any of us. You shouldn’t hold it against him, no more than he’ll hold it against you. And you know Klaus, he’s way too kind. He’ll forgive you.” 

Nodding frantically, he looked around the little café. “He- He likes blueberries, doesn’t he? I’ll get him some of those muffins for sale. Or- or is that stupid?” 

Diego wondered when he signed up for being the resident expert in How-To-Be-A-Good-Sibling. Especially since he didn’t know Klaus liked blueberries. That feels like something he should know. “Sure, get him a muffin. Step two, you can fight with me all you want, but _never_ lay a finger on another member of this family. And if I see, or so much as hear you do that again, I’m gonna cut off your monkey arms myself. Are we clear?” 

“Of course. I’ll make sure it never happens again.” 

“Good. And finally, step three: stop being an insufferable asshole,” Diego smirked, leaning against the table. “But I’m pretty sure that’s an incurable disease and you’re stuck with it.” 

Luther’s only reply was to give him a look as Allison turned her page around for him to read, SAYS YOU. 

Reaching out across the table to steal Allison’s forgotten toast, Diego popped a cold corner of it into his mouth, grinning despite himself. 

-.-.- 

The very next day found Diego in a match to the death with Allison over a game of tictactoe. 

At first, he only suggested it to pass the time. The boredom drove him to seek out any form of distraction and he had absolutely nothing to lose and nothing better to do. 

Very quickly, however, it became serious. He had already lost to Allison three times and was trying to regain some of his pride by trying to beat her at least once. She had also beat him at hangman earlier and Diego refused to not have a single win under his belt at a stupid game involving a 9-square grid with matching symbols. She saw through all of his strategies, however, making him disregard any tactics and just attempting to outsmart her at her own game. Fidgeting with his pen, he made his move. 

Cursing immediately afterwards and reconsidering his choice of distraction, he watched Allison get another three circles to line up with a smug smile on her face. 

He narrowed his eyes at her. “You’re cheating,” he determined. “You must be. Nobody is this good at dumb paper games.” 

Allison blinked at him flatly. In one sweep of her arm, she picked up her pen and marked another win under her half of their scoreboard. He used the term loosely as it was a tally underneath a divided page with 2 and 3 on top. The half under 2 was pathetically empty. Just watching the empty space made Diego feel all the more determined to beat her at this, if only just once. 

“You know what?” Diego announced, pushing their notebook away from him when Allison won two more rounds in quick succession. “Let’s play something else.” 

Huffing, she wrote out her response on a different page. LIKE WHAT? 

Diego looked away, thinking. He watched the spiral patterns on the walls, going over his options. Playing on a notepad got boring very quickly, and he didn’t feel like playing any other games on it. Then, like a lightbulb going over his head, he got an idea. He clicked his fingers at his sister. “I know for a fact I could beat you at cards. Literally any card game.” 

She gave him another flat look, as if she considered him to be very dull. WE HAVE NO CARDS. 

He paused, looking around their little hotel room and thinking about his options. Diego found the place to be very plain and nothing special. All their rooms have started looking the same at this point, and this was just his third one. Diego did appreciate the metal box on the desk, however, that was apparently an old radio from this time period. It filled a lot of the silence left between them, but he only wished he knew how to operate it properly to change the station. 

Turning back to his sister, he said simply, “then let’s go buy some.” 

Honestly, Diego would take any excuse to leave. He felt quite tired of spending his days doing nothing but waiting for Five to get his calculations in order. He dared to approach him that morning, asking how he was doing and if he could help. All he got was a bunch of obscenities thrown at him in return, so Diego took the hint and left; wondering all the while just what horrendous crime he must have committed to be stuck with someone like Five for a brother. 

He did not consider losing his pride to his sister to be a fair exchange for something to do that wasn’t staring at a wall. He needed something else. Honestly, he would even pick up poetry as a hobby at this point if it meant having something to do. 

Allison thought it over, before shrugging her shoulders. She picked up her pen once more. YOU SUCK AT CARDS BUT OK. 

Feeling horribly insulted, Diego stared at Allison. He was great at cards, thank you very much. He stood up from his position on the floor, stretching his arms over his head until his bones popped. He looked down at Allison, pointing a finger down at her. “I’m gonna make you eat your words. We’re heading out in 5 minutes.” 

She gave him another flat look, not believing him. She quickly wrote out her answer. Diego learned the hard way that it was in his best interest to just allow her to write out whatever it was she wanted to say, otherwise she took to whacking him on the head with her notepad. FIRST ONE TO THREE IN GIN RUMMY? 

Diego grinned, “Of course.” He turned his back and began rummaging through his backpack. The lovely weather from yesterday had turned to shit and an awful wind was shaking everything within its reach. The sun had also hidden behind a curtain of clouds, leaving the day feeling dark and chilly. 

He took out a hoodie from the inner depths of his bag, pulling it over his head as the bathroom door opened. Diego watched Klaus leave the bathroom as he was pushing his arms into the holes of the hoodie. Klaus, in Diego’s humble opinion, looked like he just walked out of his own grave. His face was paler than Diego had ever seen him, shoulders hunched and eyebags heavy enough to resemble a racoon. He appeared to be trembling lightly. He had a towel wrapped around his head, and wore a thin undershirt and some sweatpants that looked about a size too big on him. 

It slipped Diego’s mind that Klaus was taking a bath, since he had been in there for over an hour. Who took such long baths? What does he even do in there? He wasn’t sure he wanted to know. He followed Klaus with his eyes worriedly as he waved to Allison as she was about to leave and fell face-first onto his bed. He looked so much worse than yesterday and Diego had no idea how to help. One glance at his sister, frowning at them from the door, showed that she felt as helpless and worried as he was. Klaus looked about one poke away from dropping dead at any moment and Diego couldn’t have that. 

Remembering his resolve to do what he could for his family, he straightened up. “Get changed,” he called out to Klaus. “We’re going out.” His gaze met Allison’s and she nodded, turning away and going to her own room to put on a jacket. 

Klaus’ voice sounded muffled as he spoke through a face-full of bed sheets. “What do you mean ‘we’?” 

“Exactly what it sounds like,” Diego said, leaning back on the soles of his feet, arms crossed. “You’re coming with us.” 

“Says who?” 

“Says me,” Diego walked up to Klaus, standing over him. “We’re going to get cards so that I can beat Allison.” 

Klaus turned around so that he laid on his back, looking up at Diego in confusion. “But you’re terrible at cards.” 

“No, I’m not!” Diego stated fiercely. “And I’m gonna prove it!” 

“Ah, what the hell,” Klaus draped a hand over his eyes. “Go wild, buckaroo. Take over the world as the card king for all the shits I give, just let me lie here in peace. I am in the process of becoming one with the bedsheets.” 

“Why would you want to become those scratchy things?” 

“Shush,” Klaus said, making shooing gestures in his general direction with his free hand. “Let me fantasise about this in peace. I don’t need your negativity in my life. Becoming a bedsheet might be my biggest aspiration, you never know.” 

Diego looked at his brother in such physical exasperation that he felt it through every cell in his body. “Klaus,” he said plainly. “Get up.” 

“I don’t want to.” 

“Get up or I will drag you outside myself, don’t test me.” 

“Are you kidding me,” he whispered to nobody in particular. “Why do you hate me, brother sweetest? I thought we were pals.” 

“Stop being dramatic,” Diego said. “More fresh air would do you some good. You look like you’ve never seen the sun in your life.” 

“It’s an aesthetic!” Klaus told him. “Don’t ruin my vibe, I worked very hard on it.” 

“Uh huh,” Diego replied flatly. “Well, you have 2 minutes to change.” 

“Or what?” 

“You’ll find out if you’re not up by then.” 

Diego looked at Klaus, who looked to be in no rush to move. He stepped back, counting down the seconds on the clock resting on his nightstand. When Klaus still didn’t move a single muscle once his two minutes were over, he cracked his knuckles. 

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” And with that, he walked forward to where Klaus was lying. He reached out and grabbed Klaus’ ankle securely around his fingers. Klaus looked up at him and his eyes widened, quickly scrambling to grab the first thing he could get his hands on. As Diego gave a great pull, he easily caused him to slide off the bed and fall onto the carpeted floor with a thud and a yelp, bringing the majority of his bedsheets down on top of him. 

Only the ankle Diego held in his hand rose up from the cocoon of bedsheets. The cocoon shook as Klaus attempted to free his leg from Diego’s grasp. His towel had fallen from his hair, landing halfway off the bed. Klaus began cursing as Diego began to pull him away from the bed, quickly pulling him apart from the bedsheets. 

Wiggling around and kicking to try and free his leg, Klaus glared up at him in outrage, “how old are you? Seriously?” 

Diego just tightened his grip and continued to pull his ankle, shoving Klaus forward towards the door. 

“Diego!” Klaus cried, kicking his legs even harder. “Stop!” 

"I told you that this would happen,” he looked down at the pile of limbs at his feet and raised an eyebrow, “will you get up and get ready if I let you go?” 

Groaning loudly, Klaus kicked once more. “Why do you want me to go so badly? It’s just some cards.” 

“Because you need more fresh air,” Diego said, giving another pull. “You either agree to change or I’ll drag you how you are all the way to the shop.” 

Finally, Klaus relented, “fine! Jesus, I swear there’s something wrong with you!” He tried to free his leg once again. “Let go of me!” 

Choking down a laugh, Diego complied, satisfied. He let go off his brother’s ankle, causing it to fall down onto the floor to join his other limbs. He took one last look at Klaus, who was glaring up at him, and smiled. He stepped away, going back to his backpack. 

Klaus did get changed after that, but he made sure to let his disapproval known. Diego felt greatly amused as he heard Klaus’ insults from outside in the hallway, feeling pretty satisfied with himself. While he waited, Allison came up to him. She got her jacket and pulled her hair up into a low ponytail. She also had Vanya in tow. 

He nodded to both of them, not surprised that Allison invited Vanya to come along. It was quite the process to make sure they remembered to include Vanya in their comings and goings, as she felt as small and unnoticeable as ever sometimes. 

While he felt a little wary around Vanya, not wanting to give her any reason to get angry or upset with him, he was not about to turn her away again. He learned his lesson quite clearly. She was back to looking healthy by now, with more colour on her cheeks and lighter eyes. He still had to try and get used to loud bangs that would follow her whenever she felt anything particularly strong, making lightbulbs explode in her wake. Five had been trying to get started on the training, hoping to find a place for Vanya to have a way be able to release some of the energy inside her without any risk to the people around her. 

Considering the fact that she had been trying to kill them about three days ago, Diego thought that a few lightbulbs were excellent progress. 

Vanya paused in front of his door, tilting her head to the side to listen to Klaus’ muffled curses through it. She looked at Diego, “uh- what’s going on with Klaus?” 

Diego waved a hand, laughing shortly. “Don’t mind him. He’s just a little tired.” 

Allison smiled, sharing a look with him. 

“What did you do?” Vanya asked. “It sounds like you murdered his first-born child.” 

“Made him go outside.” 

Vanya paused, before nodding. “Yeah, okay.” 

The door slammed open, hitting the wall with a loud bang. In the doorway stood Klaus, dressed and scowling. He had his own hoodie on as well as a beanie to cover his wet hair. He pointed at Diego with a shaking hand, “you’re on thin ice, mister. I might reconsider our little friendship if you’re gonna be like that.” 

Diego just stood there, looking as innocent as possible. 

Klaus grimaced. “Let’s get this over with.” With that, he stomped down the hallway and towards the staircase. 

The rest of them followed after glancing at each other in silent amusement. 

-.-.- 

“Oh, what do we have here?” Klaus’ shaky voice rang out between them, reaching out to pick up a small box off a shelf. “Battleship? That’s a classic.” 

“When was the last time we played that?” Diego mused out loud, looking between the Connect-Four and the cheap and flimsy board of chess in his hands, wondering which one he should buy. He shrugged and decided it wouldn’t hurt if he took both. No matter what his siblings would say, Diego knew that he could beat Allison at those. 

“That time you got so mad that Five beat you that you threw a fit and refused to ever play again,” Klaus supplied, glancing over the various other games on the shelves. The choice seemed limited, with only a small shelf randomly shoved with games as their selection. Diego wondered if games were in high demand, or if this store just had that little in supply. “We talked shit about you for a week after that.” 

Allison chuckled inaudibly, holding two packs of cards in one hand; regular and Uno cards. His sister must love chaos, as a round of Uno between people as competitive as them would undoubtably end in violence. Her other hand held the notepad. REMEMBER HOW COMPETITIVE YOU WOULD GET OVER BATTLESHIP? 

“Diego would get competitive over who could tie their shoes the fastest,” Klaus said in a flat tone, placing the game of Battleship under his arm. “Or who could put the most marshmallows in their mouth and then nearly choke to death.” 

“If I remember correctly, I would always kick your ass,” Diego supplied, finding it to be a very important detail. 

Klaus mocked him using talking hand gestures. 

Vanya emerged from some random shelf, happily carrying a stack of books. Diego could make out some titles from where he stood and he saw that she got a bunch of puzzle books and crosswords, as well as two novels. Diego did not remember at what point they all decided that they would get any form of entertainment they could get their hands on, but here they were. 

Silence stretched between them for a moment. The sound of the store buzzing and people going about their business seemed very dull compared to the awkward air that surrounded them suddenly. Diego thought that they were very hopeless if they could only manage about three lines of steady conversation before stopping. 

Klaus stared at nothing for a while, before turning back to them. “C’mon short stuff,” he told Vanya after a few more seconds, taking her free hand and dragging her down the store. “I’ve decided that you’re my new favourite sibling right now. You and me are gonna raid the pastry section. I’m craving a good croissant.” 

Looking up at her brother, Vanya blinked. “It’s late afternoon. All the leftover pastries would be cold.” Then, she stopped. She looked down at her feet at if Klaus was about to give out to her for stating a fact. Diego’s guilt just kept increasing the more time passed. 

“Maybe so,” Klaus agreed, smiling gently. He reached down to wrap his arm around her small shoulders, leaning down as if to tell her a secret. “But that’s not going to stop us, now is it? Some cold food never hurt anybody.” 

Vanya blinked. “Talking from experience, are you?” 

“I can’t give away all my secrets,” he winked. “Oh yeah, I also wanted to go browse the clothing section, and since you’re my new partner in crime as Dumb and Dumber over there,” he pointed to Diego and Allison, who rolled their eyes, “are about as fun as watching paint dry, you’re gonna let me pick you out a new shirt. Meaning now’s your time to shine, sister dear.” 

She smiled back, looking back at the others. Then she shrugged. “Okay, but no sequins. You already got me that from those clothing bins and I wanted to hit you.” 

“Atta girl!” Klaus cheered. “I knew you were my new favourite for a reason. Onwards! Allison, Diego, don’t follow us. We will be having some very top-secret business going on.” 

He began to walk away, Vanya by his side as he tried to keep her in conversation. Diego wondered how long it would take for them to make everything up to their sister. If only Diego was as good as Klaus at this ‘sibling bonding’ thing. Only Klaus would be able to make a big deal out of getting some shitty pastries at six in the afternoon, while also making Vanya smile. How did he not notice how little she smiled growing up? How little she engaged in anything at all? 

Looking around as he passed the dairy section, Diego noticed that not many people could be seen around them. But Diego still felt weary of every person they passed. His weariness saved him on several occasions and Diego was not about to stop relying on it. Any of these strangers could very well be an agent for the Commission, more than willing to take out everyone in his family without a second thought. Diego had to be alert to make sure that did not happen. 

HOW DO YOU PLAN TO CARRY ALL THOSE THINGS IN YOUR BAG? Allison asked about the game boxes he was balancing in his arms after Klaus and Vanya disappeared down a corner with a promise to meet back up in a few minutes. 

“I’ll stuff some in Klaus’ bag. Or Luther’s, since he won’t know the difference,” Diego told her. “These are calling my name, Allison. I’m not about to refuse the opportunity to beat your ass.” 

AND HERE I THOUGHT YOU WERE ACTUALLY GROWING UP, Allison replied. 

“I’m young at heart,” he said. And by that, he meant he was bored and restless and hated being cooped up like a bird in a cage. Their conversation ended just as soon as it began, leaving them glancing at the items on the shelves as they walked in a random direction. 

They ended up running right into Klaus and Vanya about fifteen minutes later. 

Vanya had a bag overflowing with pastries on top of her stack of books while Klaus had several articles of clothing in his hands. He was telling Vanya about the benefits of crop tops while Vanya just listened quietly. Diego had to take a moment to wonder just how they were going to tell Five that they spent the majority of their remaining money on games and clothes they didn’t need. 

Klaus looked over at them when he noticed them. He told them that he had one last stop to make before they were good to go back. They all ended up following him as Klaus led the way to the arts and crafts section, weaving easily out of the way of the few people who were in his way. 

He stood before a giant shelf with enough different types and colours of knitting wool to make sweaters for an entire battalion. Fabrics of some sort were to the right, folded neatly in a stack. To the left were while different lengths of knitting needles. 

Diego’s brows furrowed at he wondered why Klaus led them here. It was only when Klaus shifted his hold on his clothes and stepped up to begin sorting through the colours that Diego decided to just ask for everyone, “since when do you knit?” 

“Since right after I got sober,” Klaus replied. “Though it’s not really knitting right now, and more like making a mess. I’m trying to teach myself, but that’s hard when the only person I've ever seen knit was Mom,” He shrugged, picking up some neon blue wool. “But it gives me something to do with my hands and provides a distraction.” His eyes turned down the aisle, staring at nothing for a second before he flinched and tore his eyes back to look at the wool in his hands. 

Debating the merits of attempting to keep the conversation going or just stopping while he was ahead, Diego wondered what he could possibly say. These long stretches of silence always felt like they were pushing down on him. Allison stepped up to Klaus and pointed towards colours she found pretty while him and Vanya were left behind. 

He turned towards his tiny sister, desperately wanting to break the tense silence slowly engulfing him, but anytime he would open his mouth to say something he realised he did not know what he would even say. How do you start a normal conversation with your sister? Especially after you made said sister’s life shitty and after said sister tried to kill you and then had two consecutive breakdowns in front of you? Klaus could do it, but he was Klaus and he could easily start an engaging conversation with a rock. 

A sudden loud slap of plastic against tiles cut through the silence like a knife. They all jumped from the sudden noise. 

With no kind of warning, half of the materials on the shelves in front of Klaus and Allison fell to the ground in one quick sweep. Wools, needles, fabrics, sewing kits and threads all littered the ground in less than two seconds, leaving behind a giant arrow for the fact that they were here and they clearly were not just a simple group of siblings out for a quick shop. 

His head snapped in the direction of the noise, fingers instinctively reaching for the set of knives he stashed on his person. He found a lone janitor at the end of their aisle who had dropped his bucket loudly onto the ground and who was not paying them even one speck of attention. He took two steps forward to block the view of the mess on the floor from any passer-by's, quickly wrapping a hand around a knife just in case. 

Looking back over his shoulder to the shelves, he noticed Allison and Klaus staring at the mess on the ground with wide-eyes. Allison cringed when she caught his eyes. Klaus blinked slowly, looking confused and alternating his blinking eyes from the floor to his hand, which held some pink wool. He dropped the wool once he noticed, as if burned, dropping the clothes hanging over his arm and the game of Battleship in the same movement. 

Diego turned his head to look at Vanya, who was the only one between them with the powers that could have possibly caused half the shelves to collapse onto the ground. His sister looked just as surprised at the rest of them, however. She looked at her hands with a frown, “huh. . . oh. I didn’t know I could do that.” 

Quickly shaking her head from the surprise, Allison did not waste another second before she kneeled down to pick up the supplies from the floor, quickly beginning to clean up. Diego and Vanya joined her a second later, desperate to hide any sort of evidence that anything out of the ordinary had just happened. 

Klaus remained the only one standing for a few moments, before looking down at the rest of them. He blinked down at the three of them at his feet. He looked up at the shelves, down at them, and then at the empty air beside him with wide and bewildered eyes and cried out, “I- I need to go!”

“Go?” Diego asked just as he gathered up three sheets of fabric off the ground. “Go where?” 

“Just- Bathroom-” Klaus pointed over his shoulder at the half-empty shelf of wool. He paused, switching direction and pointing in a random direction down the aisle. “Withdrawals, you know how they are,” he placed his hands over his stomach, his face twisting, “I suddenly feel very sick and I need a minute. I’ll be back in a jiffy, not to worry!” Not waiting for their replies, Klaus turned and practically ran away from them. 

Diego and Vanya shared eye contact, utterly confused. 

Even though Diego would have liked to go after Klaus, he had to clean up. The sooner they put everything back to the way it was originally, the better. 

Working together, the three of them quickly got rid of the mess, trying to leave no evidence behind. No one looked their way as they practically restocked the shelves in less than five minutes, tripping over themselves in their hurry. 

As soon as they made sure they put everything back and that they were in no immediate danger, they fell into an intensely shushed conversation about how they were supposed to prevent Vanya’s powers from being discovered in public. Allison’s scribbled were barely legible through the speed at which she wrote. They got lucky right now since there was nobody else in the aisle, but luck may not always be by their side. 

Diego was just about to go on a hunt for Klaus when he finally returned ten minutes later. He told them that he wanted to go back to his bed and lie down, since he didn’t feel too well because of his sudden nausea. Diego felt a little guilty for dragging Klaus out here if all he had to show for it was him feeling worse. He did not want this. 

They quickly got their bearings about the situation, deciding to just lay low and head back to their hotel before anything else happened. 

On their way to pay for their stuff, Klaus nearly forgot to get his wool after all that had happened in order to get them for him. He scowled when Vanya mentioned it, muttered something under his breath and grabbed the first two colours he reached for, as well as a set of needles. 

They quickly paid, each carrying a small bag upon exiting the store. 

Diego just knew that Five was going to kill all of them himself once he found out about this. 

-.-.- 

Five was off the radar once they came back, for better or for worse. Luther told them he was ‘out gathering intelligence’ and would not be back until that night. 

Spread out on the small bed in Diego’s room, he and Allison were making good on her Gin Rummy challenge. He took great pleasure in winning a round against her after all her shit talking about him sucking at cards. Now if only he could do it again. 

Diego sometimes had to do a double take at the fact that he and Allison were getting along enough to play cards. Maybe he should just use cards as a way to get along with the others, though he wasn’t sure he wanted to play a round with Luther. Or Five. But maybe he could ask Vanya if she wanted to play. Did she know how to? Surely, she must. Cards were a good way to spend time without having to talk, since that had never been Diego’s strong suit. 

Considering that it had been three days since the last time they had a full-blown fight, brunch with Luther not counting, Diego thought they could be doing much worse. Then again, it sometimes felt like they were all avoiding each other even though they were sharing the same space. It probably did not help that the only thing most of them knew how to do while in each other’s presence was to insult each other in some roundabout way or another, especially when they were supposed to be reconciling. 

Was it just him or did it sometimes feel like they were all walking on eggshells, unsure where they stood with one another? Diego hated it. It shouldn’t be rocket science, and yet here he was, just as clueless as the others. They had not been around each other so much since they were all living under the same roof and he had trouble figuring out how exactly he was supposed to feel about it. 

A knock on the door broke the intense concentration surrounding them as Allison was well on her way to winning her second round, causing them to turn in the direction of the front door. 

Vanya came in, looking just as small and unassuming as always. She wore one of the shirts Klaus got her that day, hair flowing down her shoulders. She looked around, spotting Klaus occupying his bed, attempting and failing to untangle the mess of wool from his needles. He had locked himself in the bathroom for an hour after they returned on the basis that he felt sick before just wrapping himself in blankets in the corner. He barely spoke three words to them since. He would inhale sharply sometimes out of nowhere, or freeze up at nothing but would wave off his concerns if Diego asked what was wrong. 

Waving awkwardly to where they sat with cards in their hands, Vanya stepped towards Klaus’ bed. She fumbled with her sleeves, taking very slow steps forward. 

It took Klaus a lot longer than normal to notice Vanya looking in his direction. He snapped out of his head as she stood in front of his bed, playing with her hands. Vanya cleared her throat awkwardly, turning towards Diego and Allison for a second before focusing back. 

Klaus blinked at her in confusion, as if wondering where she came from. “Uh- hey? What’s going on?” 

She kept her gaze at her hands, twisting her fingers together in some extreme version of fidgeting. “I’ve been meaning to ask you this for a while. Um- I don’t know how to-. I mean- It's kind of dumb but-” 

Klaus looked at his sister like a deer in the headlights. 

Vanya took a shy look towards the others once again before steeling herself, taking a breath. “Five told me Ben is with us? You can see him?” 

He blinked again in surprise, clearly not having been expecting that. “Uh- Yeah. He’s right beside me.” He looked towards the edge of the bed where there was nothing but empty air to everyone but him. He looked at a loss for what else to say, but continued on. “He’s- You know how he is. He’s been worried about you since we got here. He has that look on his face, you know the one with the teary eyes and pout, but the worried one?” 

Vanya was just looking at the space beside Klaus. She had a sad smile on her face. 

“And- and you can make him . . . visible?” She asked carefully not looking away from the empty space. 

“I- not properly,” Klaus said, looking at his hands with a twisted expression. “My powers are kind of all over the place, I don’t know.” He remained silent for a few seconds before continuing. “I did it a few times, and I’ve been practicing a little.” Vanya’s face fell. Klaus quickly gave the space beside him a panicked look before backtracking, “but I’m- I mean- um- I can try? To manifest him?” Another look towards his side. “Right now?” 

She nodded eagerly, still looking at the space beside Klaus as if she could somehow will Ben to appear all on her own. Klaus shot Ben a heated look, gesturing widely with his hands and mouthing something that Diego couldn’t make out from his position. 

Taking a deep breath, Klaus mumbled something else and closed his eyes in concentration. Diego shared a look with Allison, abandoning their card game for the time being as they watched Klaus clench his fists. 

For a moment nothing happened. 

Tense anticipation filled the room as everyone stared at Klaus. Seconds ticked on and on. 

Diego could feel his fingers twitching with impatience, thinking that Klaus just did not have enough practice under his belt to be able to do it on command. 

But he was very proven wrong almost immediately afterwards. His brother’s hands glowed a soft blue, causing the space beside him to get illuminated in the same moment. Diego went as still as a stone; Allison’s breath left her body and Vanya’s eyes resembled saucers as they could make out the shape of a person sitting on the edge of the bed, all blue and wispy. 

No features could be seen, or any clear confirmation that they were looking at Ben, but just the soft outline was enough to make Diego’s insides twist tightly. Who else could it possibly be? That was his brother! Oh my God, it did not matter that he had seen Klaus and Ben rip those gunmen in half at the theatre, or that he had been told that Ben was around them. Seeing him again, in all his wispy glory, felt like a punch in the gut all over again. 

Just as quickly as it came, before any of them could so much as react in a way other than shock, the light fizzled out, leaving the space beside Klaus just as empty as it was a few seconds ago. 

Silence surrounded them once again as Klaus’ face contorted in disappointment. He looked at his hands in annoyance, giving up when no more glow came out when he tried again. His eyes turned to where Ben sat, making a sour face. “It’s- it’s draining to keep it up. I’m not used to- to- _this_,” he gestured to everything all at once. 

Finally, Vanya spoke, “can I-” she paused. “I mean, if you don’t have anything better to do, could I talk to him? Please? I miss him a lot and you’re the only way I could talk to him properly, and since you can’t- I-” 

Klaus gawked at her before getting a hold of his expression and smiling kindly, but it seemed strained. “Yeah, of course.” He said this as if it were obvious. “But I’ll have you know that I’m not just some telephone between the living and the dead; my services will be very costly.” 

A big and genuine smile appeared on her face. It felt like a breath of fresh air. “Oh yeah? What is your price?” 

Rubbing his chin as if he was thinking very hard about it, Klaus answered. “I reckon I’ll go with twenty bucks per conversation. What do you think? Seems like a sweet deal to me.” 

Diego butted into the discussion, “you do realize that you secure all of our money right now?” 

Klaus pouted, “hey! How else am I supposed to get paid? With protein bars? Moldy socks?” 

YOU COULD DO IT FOR FREE, Allison suggested. 

“Do I look like someone who works for free to you?” Klaus asked, raising his eyebrows. His head snapped to where Ben was, before he let out a long-suffering sigh. “I guess I could make an exception for my new favourite sibling,” he said this as if he was doing Vanya the biggest favour in the universe. Klaus patted the space beside him and Vanya was more than happy to climb onto the bed to sit shoulder to shoulder with her brother. 

“Uh- which way should I face? Is he still at the edge?” Vanya asked. 

“Ben, get some manners. Move your ghostly behind and sit in front of us,” Klaus said, pointing to the space in front of them. 

Within seconds the two of them began a steady conversation with their dead brother. 

Diego made up his mind to invite himself into the conversation after going over his options for a second, dragging Allison with him as he sat down on Klaus’ tiny bed. When Klaus started teasing Ben about the ‘mother-henning tendencies’ he had developed, Diego felt obliged to comment that Ben wouldn’t have to be a mother hen if Klaus just looked after himself more. Klaus just rolled his eyes. Allison, not wanting to be left out, soon scribbled away on her notepad at the speed of light. 

They all made themselves comfortable around Klaus’ bed, sitting close to each other and somehow managing to talk for over an hour without struggling to fill in the silence once. 

And, after everything, Diego’s card game with Allison laid abandoned. 

-.-.- 

Vanya had managed to break the lot of them out of their shock in regards to Ben. While they had seen him with their own two eyes, it felt as though he wasn’t within their reach, there but separated by a huge and unbreakable wall of death and the afterlife. 

None of them even thought of asking Klaus to make him visible again, or even to sit down and have an actual conversation with Ben. 

That last part was not all that surprising since none of them were in much haste to begin any sort of conversation more often than not. Even Diego, who had prided himself on remembering to greet Ben each time and even attempt to follow Klaus’ one-sided talks, had not done all he could for Ben. 

As a result, the majority of the next day followed them playing their own combination of Telephone and Chinese Whispers with the ghost of their brother. Even on their way to moving to a new hotel location, because Five was a paranoid bastard who doesn’t like staying in one place for long, they continued to try and catch up, as if to cram thirteen years’ worth of happenings in a few words. 

Even Luther, who after his apology two days ago, had approached Klaus all on his own once again in order to fully apologise about not believing him about Ben, as well as apologising to Ben for smashing his statue at the funeral. 

The fact that Diego felt proud of Luther made bile rise up from his stomach. 

Klaus’ sobriety had not come up in conversation since the café, but his struggles with it were clear, even if Klaus barely mentioned it at all. 

It was not uncommon knowledge that Diego was not an expert when it came to the process of overcoming drug addiction. 

He liked to think he knew about much as the average Joe about the subject. But now that his brother was in the thick of it, Diego was truly starting to feel his lack of knowledge come back to bite him. He did not know all the do’s and don'ts, or the best approaches the take to certain situations, and he was not in a position where he could just go and look it up. All he had to go on was trying to observe Klaus and try to figure out what the best way to help would be. 

Diego’s best efforts included attempting to distract Klaus whenever he looked like he needed it to give him something new to focus on. He tried to give him things to do, and to not to leave his side when his eyes would seek out the exits, looking for ways to sneak away. He also tried to let Klaus know that he would be there to help him if he needed it. He heard somewhere once that letting others know you were there worked, but he did not know if any of what he was doing made any kind of a difference. 

Klaus was just about a week sober by now. Diego did not know how long withdrawals were supposed to last, or when the worst of it would pass, but Klaus being a week sober was a huge achievement for him. Once upon a time Diego would have thought it impossible for Klaus to go clean for so long. He hoped that every day was getting a little bit easier for him. 

For all his lack of proper knowledge, Diego could easily see that being sober was taking its toll on Klaus. There have been plenty of instances in the last few days where Klaus would completely shut down for certain amounts of time. He would sit away by himself, flinch randomly, get irritable and angry at random moments for no reason and threw insults at everyone nearby for so much as glancing at him. Klaus also got into the habit of dropping more things around him or shutting himself up in bathrooms. He was impossible to be around sometimes, but Diego promised he would keep an eye on him. He was not about to go back on his word. So, he swallowed back his own insults back at Klaus and just kept quiet, hoping his silent support and distraction would be enough. 

But Diego could not stay silent when he woke up in the middle of that night to see Klaus trying to sneak out of their tiny hotel room. 

As effective as Klaus was in keeping quiet, Diego became a very light sleeper recently. The soft _click_ of the doorknob broke through his dreams of shaking walls and bullets flying everywhere instantly, immediately bringing him back to reality. He shook awake, blinking blearily in the dark to try and figure out what exactly woke him up. 

His head was foggy with sleep as he turned towards the room at large. Everything was dark, with no source of light to be found anywhere, leaving only dark shapes and outlines for him to try and put together. It was only the sound of hinges squeaking softly from the front of the room that caught his attention. His head snapped towards the noise on reflex, his eyes slowly trying to make out the silhouette of a person closing the front door quietly behind them. 

It took Diego’s tired brain a few seconds to figure out what was going on. 

Once it clicked, he cursed and jolted out of bed so fast he nearly gave himself whiplash. He threw the door open with more force than necessary and ran like the wind to intercept Klaus outside in the hallway. It was lighter outside, with moonlight shining on them from clear windows. It was much easier to make out Klaus walking quickly towards the staircase heading to the lower floors. 

Diego caught up in five quick steps. Klaus startled and jumped a foot in the air when Diego placed his hand on his shoulder from behind. Klaus turned his head around to look at him and let out a huff when their eyes met. 

“Oh, hi Diego,” Klaus whispered through clenched teeth. “Nice night, don’t you think?” 

Diego responded with the best unimpressed look he could manage. Klaus let out a deep sigh. 

Without another word, Diego gave Klaus’ shoulder a tug in the direction they came from. He quickly pulled him back into the hotel room while Klaus tried in vain to get out of his grasp. Diego pushed Klaus inside through the open door, who stumbled back and barely managed to keep himself from tripping over his own feet. He stepped in after his brother, closed the door behind him and turned on the central light. 

The light assaulted his eyes and caused them to burn but he paid them no mind. He levelled Klaus with a glare and a raised eyebrow, silently daring him to try and talk his way out of this. Part of Diego had been waiting for something like this to happen. What other reason did Klaus have to sneak out of their room at night-time? 

Klaus did not say anything and just stood there in front of him, suddenly finding the bare white walls fascinating to look at. 

Diego crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the wooden door behind him without looking away from Klaus, who was slowly starting to fidget with the ends of his sleeves. 

Eventually Diego had enough of the thick silence, and cleared his throat sharply. 

Klaus’ head turned to look at him, and cringed. Diego was not sure whether he should be surprised or not when the first thing he said was, “I could have sworn you were asleep.” 

“I was.” 

“Ah,” Klaus replied, swallowing thickly. “Then why don’t you run along and go back to bed?” 

“Who do you think you’re kidding?” Diego said, glaring harder. “Why were you sneaking out?” 

Klaus looked away again, “going out to get something to eat?” 

“You have plenty of food in your bag, Klaus, don’t bullshit me,” Diego replied. “Try again.” 

“Trying to go and have a morning jog?” 

“At-” He looked over at the digital clock on the nightstand, “-four in the morning?” 

“Maybe I’m suddenly an early riser.” 

Diego glared even harder. His face started to hurt from the force of it. 

Klaus scowled, running a hand through the bird nest he called a hairstyle. “Okay, what exactly do you want me to say here?” He demanded. “I wanted to stretch my legs? I had an errand to run? I suddenly got a job at a bakery and I need to get up early to set up shop? You know exactly why I was sneaking out, so just skip the questioning already!” 

Diego bit the inside of his cheek in order to stop himself from saying something he would regret. “Okay,” he said slowly. “Just tell me this, then. Why?” 

“Why what?” 

“Why would you want to ruin all your hard work, Klaus? You told me nearly three days ago that you weren’t about to sneak away! You’re doing so well-” 

“Okay fine, look Diego, I can’t do this,” Klaus stepped away from him, walking over to his bed and sitting down on the edge. He placed his elbows on his knees and covered his face with his hands. “There’s too many of them, wherever I go, screaming at me, trying to claw at me. I can barely hear myself over the sound of them, sometimes.” 

“You’re about a week sober now. Are you really going to run off and make it all for nothing?” Diego took a step towards Klaus’ bed, still glaring. “You’re just going to give up? Just like that?” 

“You don’t understand, Diego, I-” he paused, looking up from his hands. “I can’t do this, not anymore. I tried. I gave it my best shot and I failed.” He paused again. “I still can’t see the one ghost I was doing all of this for. I try to call out to him to, I don’t know, summon him or something, but it never works! The sweats and tremors keep me up to ungodly hours of the night, I can’t think straight with all of this fucking screaming-!” Klaus reached up to cover his ears, glaring at the empty motel room with unfocused eyes, his breathing getting quicker. “I don’t care that your murderer is still out there, leave me alone!” 

“Klaus,” Diego took in the sight of his brother on the verge of hyperventilation and immediately switched tactics. The glare dropped from his face, quickly getting replaced with concern as he took a seat beside Klaus. “Take a deep breath, relax, it will be al-” 

“Don’t try to tell me it will be alright. It’s not. It’s just not. I can’t do this, I can’t- no I won’t, it’s driving me crazy. Ben shut up, you’re not helping my headache.” 

“What’s Ben saying?” 

“None of your business,” Klaus responded with more hatred in his voice than he remembered hearing since Klaus was a teenager. “You don’t get to tell me it’s all fine. You don’t get to say anything when you have a cool power while mine is maddening-” 

“I know that, Klaus,” Diego tried to say, trying to find some way to calm his brother down. “We can find a better way-” 

Klaus rushed to stand up, his hands clenched into fists. He hissed at Diego, “you don’t know shit! You don’t! I’m sick of you pretending to give a fuck! You’re such a- such a-” 

Diego stood up as well. He could feel himself beginning to get angry, too. “I’m such a what, Klaus?” He demanded. “You think I’m pretending wanting to help you? For what?” 

“I don’t need your help,” Klaus replied. 

“Well I see things a little differently,” Diego stated. “Because, it seems to me, like if you had your way then you would be back to throwing your life away! What’s wrong with you? You’re finally free from these toxins, and you still want to go back?” 

“But I’m not free from them,” Klaus told him harshly. “You think like six or seven, or whatever it is, days is enough for it all to go away? I’ve spent the majority of the time here wanting nothing more than to just get anything to silence them! But you’re always there! Not leaving me alone, dragging me into random conversations and sticking your stupid head all up in my business!” 

“I told you I was going to help you with this!” Diego voice was slowly rising, feeling angrier the longer he had to stare at his brother’s ashen face. 

“No! You just up and decided to stick your nose where it didn’t belong!” Klaus took a step back. “I’ve done just fine without you before so what makes this any differe-” 

“Oh yeah, you’ve done just brilliantly on your own,” Diego mocked, taking a step forward to get into Klaus’ personal space. “You’ve lived on the streets for how long?” He asked harshly, pointing a finger into his chest. “You’ve lost half of your damn life to these drugs and you want to tell me that it’s fine?” He completed his question with another harsh jab of his finger into his brother’s chest, pushing him back from the pressure. 

“You don’t know anything about my life!” Klaus exclaimed, grabbing his hand away from his chest. He raised his own trembling hand and raised it to point at Diego. “Stop pretending like you have any idea-” 

“Do you seriously have such little regard for yourself and everyone around you?” Diego took another step forward. “I wouldn’t have pegged you as being such a selfish asshole-” 

“Selfish?!” Klaus shrieked, his voice managing to reach a new octave in his anger, causing Diego to flinch back from the volume. “Who do you think are you to call me selfish for wanting some damn peace? You have no right to call me that-” 

“No? Because I’ve been busting my ass for the past week to help you since we’ve come here and-” 

“And I never asked for your help! I never wanted it!” Klaus exclaimed. Diego jerked back, feeling like he just got slapped in the face. “And I don’t need it! You don’t get to act like you know anything about me, and you especially don’t get to act like my keeper and get to make me stay inside this stupid room instead of being out there, finding a way to silence all of these bastar-” 

That was the night Diego fulfilled the promise he made on a whim and punched Klaus straight in the nose. 

“What the-” Klaus spluttered as he staggered back, raising his hand to his face and dropping it back down to see blood on his fingers. Oh shit. He didn’t mean to hit him that hard. Fuck, that was a lot of blood. “The fuck do you think you’re doing?” 

“What about Ben, huh?” Diego demanded, rubbing his stinging knuckles and deciding that it was too late to take the punch back now. “You’re just going to stop conjuring Ben, stop allowing Ben to interact with us just because you want to get high? That’s _selfish _-” 

Klaus glared at him, blood dripping down from his nose like a stream and up to his mouth, making him appear crazed. “Ben is a stubborn bastard,” Klaus turned to stare at the space beside him. “Drugs don’t make him go away.” 

“Huh?” Diego thoughts and whatever he had planned to say screeched to a halt as Klaus’ words made him blink stupidly. “What? But- but I thought you said-” 

“Nope,” Klaus laughed, but it sounded bitter. He raised his sleeve to wipe away the pool of blood now dripping down his chin and onto his shirt. “You think a few drugs can make Ben disappear?” Now he barked a mocking laugh as he looked at the blood on his sleeve. “You guys just convinced yourselves that I couldn’t see Ben because I was high and I was lying every time I said otherwise so I just stopped trying to convince you assholes. Because obviously everything out of my mouth was a lie and a cry for attention, obviously.” 

“So-so what you’re saying is-” 

“Ben was with me since he died, yes,” he seemed to take great pleasure in making Diego’s jaw fall to the floor. “Was there with me at his own funeral, when he asked me to pass along a message to you guys, only for me to get shut down and called unbelievable and an attention whore. Went with me into every rehab centre. Was there when Luther broke down his statue. There when-” 

“Okay, okay, I get it,” Diego said, promising himself to go back to this at a later stage. His guilt about Klaus and Ben returned with a force of a sledgehammer. He backtracked to what he was previously saying. “What about me then? You think I don’t want to understand? That I don’t want to help you? That I want to see my own brother waste his life away while I do nothing but stand back?” 

“Fuck off,” Klaus said back, wiping his nose again. “You never tried to understand before.” 

“Yes,” Diego replied, worried. This reminded him of how Klaus used to be back before he left the Academy. Klaus’ cruel streak as a teenager really left the rest of them at a loss. Diego did not know how to deal with this. “But I’m trying to do better. That’s the purpose of us being here, isn’t it? To fix our mistakes? Leaving you on your own is one of the things I regret and now I want to fix that. I may be years too late but I still want to try, to help you and to understand. Help you live a better life.” 

Klaus laughed bitterly again, but didn’t reply. 

“And what about the rest of us?” Diego continued. Klaus finally raised his two hands to wrap around his nose as he pushed himself to his feet to get something to help him control the bleeding from the bathroom. Diego was walking about two steps behind. When Klaus entered the bathroom, the door just slammed shut in Diego’s face with enough force to nearly bust his nose. Diego just blinked at the closed door, angry that Klaus nearly slammed it into his face. 

He opened the door, thinking that slamming it was just Klaus being childish and petty. Diego then leaned against the doorframe and watched Klaus, who looked even more distressed and pale than before, looking at the door in surprise. 

Klaus blinked twice when he saw him at the doorway, then looked back into the mirror hanging above the sink, breathing hard. 

“I mean,” Diego continued when Klaus finally shook himself and started looking around the bathroom. “I know that some of them are sceptical of you, doubting you can last all that much longer, but at least they’re keeping it to themselves – as far as I know.” Klaus snorted, not replying. “But I know they would help you if you just asked. They’re- We’re all determined to-” He hesitated to try and find the right words. “To try and ‘get our heads out of our asses’, as Five so eloquently put it.” 

Still no reply as Klaus started dabbing his nose with some tissue paper. 

“Sure, I know that we all don’t get along all that well still, but it’s not like it’s all going to change overnight,” Diego continued, wondering about halfway through what point he was trying to make. Whatever it was, it didn’t seem to be working as Klaus looked as unimpressed and angry as ever. Diego decided to keep trying. “You were there when we all had that agreement, after Vanya called us out. You, also, agreed to be a better brother, if I recall. Running off to get high is not good brother material.” 

Finally, Klaus spoke up, walking past him and back into the main room, holding up some more tissue up to his nose. Diego followed after him. “I don’t know about you, but I'm so much more willing to get a proper night of sleep than play the role of a good brother.” 

Okay, so that wasn’t working. New plan. “Alright, what if we are attacked and you’re too high to be of any use other than being in the way? Do you really want to get yourself or one of us killed? That’s what you wanted, isn’t it? To show that you’re not usele-” 

“Oh no,” Klaus said, holding up his left hand to get him to stop talking. “Nope. You don’t get to use that against me every time, I see what you’re doing. _Klaus, you said you don’t want to be useless_. Well, it’s not like I'm not used to it by now. What’s another biting remark thrown my way in the grand scheme of things?” 

“Klaus-” 

“Yes, I’m just a useless junkie. That’s what I’ve been since I was fourteen and that’s what I will always be-” 

“For fucks sake, Klaus,” Diego said, raising the volume of his voice to be heard over Klaus’ ranting. He grabbed his brother’s shoulders and shook him a little. “I know that you’re just acting like an asshole and trying to make me feel bad for caring for you so that I won’t stop you from getting high. And it’s only making you look like an idiot. You’re better than that. Stronger than that.” 

“Am I?” Klaus challenged, glaring again. 

“Yes!” Diego exclaimed, shaking him a bit more for good measure. “You and I both know it, and I’m sure that’s what Ben has been trying to tell you. You went this far without giving into the temptation, don’t make it go to waste! I don’t want to have to restrain you if you refuse to listen to reason-” 

Klaus barked a laugh again, stepping away from him. “Oh, I’d love to see you try. I learned how to fight the same as all of you. Don’t think I will just let you-” 

“Sure,” Diego said, interrupting. “But I’m the only one out of the two of us who is not out of practice. And you’re trembling from head to toe. I seriously doubt you could do much right now without tripping over your own feet.” 

Klaus’ glare, if possible, got worse. “It’s not up to you to decide what I do with my life.” 

Diego looked up to the ceiling, asking for patience. “Klaus,” he said softly. “You deserve more out of life than what you’ve made for yourself.” He ignored Klaus’ scoff and continued on. He had no idea how to phrase anything he wanted to say and he felt way out of his depth here. He hoped he did not sound like he was just talking out of his ass, because he sure as hell felt like he was. “You- I’m worried about you. And- I just want to help you. Please let me help.” 

“I know a way you could help me,” Klaus said. He dropped the hand holding the tissue to his nose so more blood began to drip down from his nose. “Let me go. I’ll be back within the hour; all the pesky ghosts will be gone and I will be much happier.” 

“No! No,” Diego said, trying to calm himself. He took a step back from Klaus, supressing the urge to pace. “I told you I will help you stay sober-” 

“I don’t want to be sober anymore!” Klaus exclaimed. “Shut up Ben! Being sober did absolutely nothing for me. It was a waste of time and I don’t know what I was thinking-” 

“How about you wait just a little while longer? We could talk to Five in the morning,” Diego said, wanting any excuse to convince Klaus so stay sober for a little while longer. As much of a prick Five was, surely, he would agree to help. Five came back to save them, after all. 

Klaus blinked in confusion. “Why would we-” 

“He’s working with Vanya on her powers, isn’t he?” Diego explained, hoping he sounded convincing. “He could work with you on yours as well, find a way to silence the ghosts. Make them go away.” 

Klaus scoffed, dabbing the tissue at his nose some more, “as if he would help me.” 

“We can ask him and find out,” Diego replied. “I can have a talk with him if he says no. Maybe get Vanya to convince him as well. You never know until you try, Klaus. I promise you that we’ll find a better solution to the ghosts than you poisoning yourself all over again.” 

Klaus scowled again, not liking the idea. 

“Please,” Diego said. “Promise me. If you won’t stay clean for yourself, then do it for me, or for Ben, or that special ghost you were talking about. Maybe you can’t talk to them right now because we’re in a different time period, and if you wait a little bit longer until we’re back home and the world won’t go to shit, you’ll be able to see them all you want. If they were so special as to get you sober in the first place, aren’t they special enough to stay sober and wait a bit?” 

Diego nearly let out a loud breath of relief when Klaus’ scowl disappeared. He appeared to be going over his words. He hoped Ben was agreeing with him, or adding his own argument, to finally get Klaus to agree to settle down, at least for tonight. 

“Do you really think Five will know what to do?” Klaus finally asked, voice quiet. 

“I don’t know,” Diego admitted, not wanting to lie. “But it is worth a try. It would certainly beat going back to drugs. Now please go back to bed. If you want, we can go out to the town tomorrow and get you something to block out the noise. Ear plugs or something.” 

Klaus stood up. “Okay fine. But only because I’m stuck with you and knowing you, you’d follow me all the way down to a dealer and then cause a scene. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to clean up my face, because my own brother decided to get physical. This is harassment, I have you know-” 

“I did warn you that I would punch you when you wanted to run off so it’s your faul-” 

“Get fucked,” was the only warning he got before Klaus’ fist connected with his own face. He stood there, stunned and with a throbbing cheek as Klaus massaged his knuckles and gave him a smug smirk. Some of his old attitude was shining back through. “Ha! How’s that for out of practice?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter ended up taking WAY too long and somehow became twice the length planned. 16.8k words wtf someone stop me


	5. tactful talks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The author tries to experiment with more than one point of view per chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me: time to write a short a sweet chapter to try and get the story going  
also me: writes nearly 14k words

CHAPTER V 

“Klaus?” Ben called out warily, trying to get his brother’s attention from where he stood in front of the bathroom sink. 

The open blinds allowed the bleak morning light to shine in through the small window above him, making the washed-out whites and yellows appear more prominent. The humming of the pipes, the running water and the shrilly cries filling the air mixed together to create a drone of noise that engulfed the sounds of Klaus’ uneven breathing as he splashed water onto his ashen face. 

Ignoring Ben, Klaus ran his hands up and down his wet cheeks. He winced in pain when he accidently touched his bruised nose and scowled at it in his worn-down reflection in the mirror. 

A million different things Ben could say crossed his mind, but he did not know which option would be best at this point. He did not want to say something that would just spiral Klaus into having yet another breakdown in a bathroom, as it always took Ben a while to get Klaus back to the present. 

“Please, Klaus,” he tried again when it became clear that his brother was going to pretend Ben hadn’t spoken, stuffing his hands into his pocket to stop his fidgeting. “You’re clearly not okay. Diego already told you that he wanted to help, just talk to him.” 

Running on minimal sleep and having his nerves fried from constant company in the form of various angry corpses, it was a miracle Klaus was able to even stand up straight right now. Ben felt like he was fighting a losing battle with trying to get Klaus to sleep, or eat or to talk to Diego so he could help ground him against the dead. No matter what he said, his words seemed to go into one of Klaus’ ears and then go out the other. It just left Ben with a dulled sort of helplessness that twisted the inside of his stomach at his brother’s vulnerable state. 

It took a long moment for Klaus to finally utter a reply. “He won’t understand.” 

“Then make him understand.” 

“I already tried,” Klaus mumbled, stretching his arm out to grab a towel and dry off his face. He kept a tight grip on the towel once he lowered it, glancing around the small room with darting eyes and looking like he didn’t quite know what to do with himself. “Don’t you remember? Back when the ghosts first started getting bad, I tried to tell him and he thought I was just exaggerating.” 

“That was years ago,” Ben said, sitting straighter on top of the closed toilet seat. 

"What difference does it make?” Klaus asked as he threw the towel over his shoulder. Ben’s eyes followed its path, watching as it landed inside the bathtub. The water ran from the showerhead even though Klaus had no intention of taking a shower as it was currently occupied with the ghost of a drowned woman, singing some Spanish song and being completely content to just stay where she was. Klaus wanted to get Diego off his back and figured that claiming to be taking a shower would work while Ben thought it was a waste of perfectly good water. 

“He has been way more understanding about everything since we got back together,” Ben reminded him slowly as he tried to get the singing out of his head. The woman was probably one of the nicest ghosts they’ve seen all week just because she was not trying to scream at Klaus, even if her singing sounded like nails on a chalkboard and grated on both of their nerves. The other ghosts have been left behind in the main room, way too far gone to be able to follow them from the place of their death. “He listened when you mentioned the ghosts that first night. And he offered to get you earplugs.” 

“I don’t need his help.” 

“Klaus, you tried to relapse last night,” he said. “You need help.” 

“Yeah, but I didn’t,” Klaus replied, turning away from the sink. “Still sober and all I get for my trouble is another punch to the face.” 

“You did deserve that, though,” Ben joked. “A little. You were quite the asshole to Diego even though he tried to help you.” 

“Fuck,” Klaus hissed, not even acknowledging Ben’s comment. “I hate being sober. What was I thinking? I wasn’t, clearly.” 

“Do you ever?” 

“Suck my ass.” 

Rolling his eyes, Ben stood up and walked towards Klaus. “Look. You may still be sober, but how long do you think you’ll last until you try again? Diego may not be there next time. You need to get help before you let the ghosts win by having them be the reason you go back.” 

“They were the reason I started at all,” Klaus pointed out, clenching his jaw tightly. 

“And now you have something to lose. Your powers are evolving already and it’s only been a week. If you were able to do that in the shop-” 

“Nope,” Klaus interjected. He raised his hands to cover his ears, acting like the apparent three-year-old he still was. “We are not talking about that again. That wasn’t me-” 

“Whatever,” Ben cut him off. “I don’t have the patience to deal with your stupid denial right now-” 

“Your face is stupid.” 

“Grow up, jackass,” Ben snapped. “And take care of yourself for the first time in your life. Don’t let the last week of sobriety go to waste.” 

“Sobriety is the worst,” he stated, pointing harshly towards the wooden door, in the direction they left Klaus’ little ghostly entourage. Three brutally mutilated bodies that had lost their minds in their hatred and desire for revenge. They would shriek to ear bursting volume about their killer anytime Klaus entered the room, threatening to kill Klaus themselves if he didn’t avenge them. “Nothing is worth _that__.” _

Ben paused, before daring to ask. “Not even Dave?” 

That got Klaus to pause in his step, turning his bloodshot eyes around to fully face him. “Don’t.” 

“Why not?” Ben pressed, throwing his hands in the air. “You never want to talk about him! If you don’t want to talk to Diego about the mausoleum and why the ghosts are so bad, then talk to me.” 

Pursing his lips, Klaus stared down at his feet in the middle of the bathroom. 

“You had absolutely no plan to ever get clean if you could help it,” Ben continued, taking a step closer so Klaus would look up at him from the ground. “Then you go and meet some guy for 10 months and suddenly he does something nobody else ever managed to do; get you sober. Even my death did nothing more than make you spiral even deeper into addiction. Tell me what made Dave so special.” 

Klaus did not reply, eyes blinking rapidly. His muscles were tense, making Ben think he was on the urge to just run away or dodge the question. 

“Come on, Klaus,” he said again, standing in front of the doorway to try and discourage Klaus from attempting to leave. “Don’t lock me out.” 

He knew that he would not be able to stop his brother if he decided to fully go back to drugs; only Klaus could fully help himself and resist the temptation. 

But, maybe, he might be able to remind Klaus as to why he went sober in the first place. He didn’t know if it would help Klaus in the long term, but he was out of ideas. At the rate he was going, Klaus would soon destroy any progress he made with the others and Ben was not optimistic enough to think that any of them would give Klaus the time of day again if he came back high as a kite after finally making the effort to get sober. Ben thought they were a bunch of stuck-up assholes for judging Klaus so easily after none of them even tried to understand him while he had to fend for himself on the streets, and Ben had to pick up the pieces and keep his brother alive but whatever. New beginnings and what not. 

He had almost lost hope of getting Klaus to talk to him when Klaus’ tired voice reached his ears. 

“Dave was-” he said softly. “He-” 

Ben stared at him, trying to encourage him to go on. 

“He made me feel alive for the first time in a long time,” Klaus admitted carefully. 

Ben’s quiet “huh” of consideration got lost in the background noise. 

Dropping down to sit at the edge of the bathtub, Klaus hesitated. “He had such- such _life _inside of him, you know? Found something good in every situation and brought light into a room when he entered. And for a person who’s surrounded by death no matter where I go, it was- was-” 

He swallowed thickly, not seeming to be able to go on. 

Walking closer to Klaus, Ben sat down beside him. He crossed his ankles over each other and stayed silent, allowing Klaus to gather his thoughts. 

“What did Dave think of it, then?” Ben asked when Klaus made no move to continue talking. “The drugs?” 

Closing his eyes, Klaus reached up to take out the dog tags from underneath his pink shirt. He looked down on it with glossy eyes. “He- He didn’t like it. He was worried that it would kill me some day. But he understood it. Or, he told me he did. I’m pretty sure that he took the fact that I said I had powers with a large grain of salt.” 

Nodding, Ben tried to smile and lighten the mood. “That makes sense. There were no miracle babies back then.” 

“Yeah,” Klaus agreed sadly, running his thumb over the tags. “I mean, he never said he didn’t believe me. I told him I could speak to the dead and he was like ‘yeah alright.’ But not in a condescending way, but in a way that he just accepted it, and he would ask me what they were saying or where they were.” 

“Oh yeah? Did you tell him about the others?” 

“A little,” Klaus replied, voice thick with unshed tears. “He told me about his family and childhood, how he grew up in a tiny apartment in the middle of the city with a little sister, and the times they would play with the local kids or bother the old ladies that lived under him. Apparently, they would give him baskets of apples as gifts, or knit him sweaters. And he wanted to know about my own childhood.” 

“And what did you tell him?” He prompted. 

“I didn’t like to talk about it,” Klaus said, picking at his nails. “But I told him some things, like how I have six siblings, five of which were superpowered because those were the good old days where I thought Vanya was ordinary.” 

“If only,” Ben said with a quirk of his lips. 

“No kidding.” Klaus continued blankly. “I told him some of my happier childhood stories. Like how we would sneak out at night to get donuts. Allison and I playing dress up, or Luther giving me piggyback rides if I annoyed him enough. I told him how you, me and Five used to be close because we were the least favourite half of the Academy and trained together in secret. And I couldn’t leave out the stories of how you, me and Diego made the ‘Even Numbers Trio’ when we were barely like seven or eight.” 

“God, I almost forgot about that! We used to think we were so damn cool,” Ben laughed. Getting hit with a crazy feeling of nostalgia, he recalled how they used to have ‘top-secret’ meetings in one of their rooms and nobody else was allowed because they weren’t even. These meetings were literally just them sneaking around at night and having a sleepover in one of their rooms and eating enough chocolate to make them nauseous while playing truth or dare. “Remember how the three of us pulled those pranks on Luther?” With Diego distracting their leader with their rivalry while Klaus and Ben executed their plans. Ben’s personal favourite stunt was adding purple hair-dye to Luther’s shampoo bottle; their month-long grounding was worth seeing Luther rock purple hair until the roots grew out so he could cut it off. 

“We _were_ cool, my dear,” Klaus corrected with a shake of his finger, smiling wistfully. Ben felt awfully proud of himself for getting Klaus to smile. “No one else ever managed to mess with Number One like we did.” 

“Of course,” Ben easily agreed. “No one else managed to have such long punishments, either.” 

“Semantics,” Klaus waved a hand. 

“So, what did your lover boy think of it all?” Ben asked, getting back on track. 

“He loved hearing some of the things little-me got up to,” Klaus chuckled hollowly. “But they made him sad once I opened up about how they were only small instances in a childhood full of rules and manipulation. I think he was about ready to fight Reggie one-on-one after I told him about my training and the fact that my actual name is Number Four.” 

“He must have loved you very much,” Ben acknowledged with a nod. “Meaning he was either an idiot or a saint.” 

Huffing, Klaus looked back down at his dog tags. “He was too good for me. I didn’t deserve him.” 

Ben frowned, turning in place to look beside him. “Don’t say that.” 

“It was war, you know?” Klaus mumbled, dropping his dog tags and wrapping his arms around himself. Ben had the biggest urge to reach out and hug Klaus, even though he knew that he was not solid enough to touch anything. He had to violently dig his hands into his pockets to suppress the urge. “It- There were so many people dying all around me, and the ghosts were- There were hundreds of them. I couldn’t not take anything. And only hard doses made all of the them completely disappear, but I didn’t want to get so doped up. Not when I was with Dave.” 

Urge getting stronger by the second, Ben just looked down at his lap. 

“And Dave- he said that he understood I needed it. He trusted that I wasn’t just doing it because I was an addict looking for excuses. Maybe he thought I was anyway, since it wasn’t like he ever got any good proof I wasn’t just lying to him. But he never said he didn’t believe me. He allowed me to believe that he trusted my word. That someone actually saw me as anything other than an addict looking for excuses.” 

“I don’t see you as that,” Ben commented. 

“Maybe,” he murmured, tightening his hands around himself. “But Dave was the first. Or, the first living person. The only reason why you don’t is because you’ve seen what the ghosts are like.” 

Ben bit his lip. “Klaus, I don’t-” 

“No, it’s alright,” he said. “Why would anyone think any differently?” 

“Because it’s the truth?” 

“Sure,” he scoffed. “People stopped believing anything I say years ago. It doesn’t matter what the truth is.” 

“You don’t deserve that.” 

“Life’s not fair, Benji. You, of all people, must know that.” 

Feeling angry all of a sudden for a plethora of different reasons, Ben’s mouth twisted. He felt all the more determined than ever to ensure that Klaus stayed sober. “So,” Ben said as he tried to steer the conversation. “What would Dave say if he saw you right now?” 

Klaus froze, flinching so harshly that Ben had to look at him to see his whole demeanour changing. “How should I know? He’s not here, is he?” 

“Well, what if he was?” Ben pressed, stretching his legs in front of him on the tiled floor. He had a feeling that the edge of the bathtub would be digging into his skin if he could feel it. 

“But he’s not!” Klaus said, breathing quickly becoming heavier. “Don’t you understand? He’s not! But he should be! I told him that I could speak to the dead and he hasn’t visited me once!” 

“Oh,” Ben whispered sadly, suspecting that he might have screwed up. 

“Why hasn’t he visited me?” He asked, breathless and quiet. “After everything we went through together, and everything we promised each other, he had to die on me and then not have the damn decency to even say hello?” 

Thinking quickly, Ben made up some kind of excuse on the fly, “I’m sure it’s not his fault-” 

“I stayed in a warzone for him!” Klaus exclaimed, shifting in place. His arms dropped from around him to grip the sides of the bathtub on either side. “A fucking war! For ten months! Full of corpses and ghosts and so far away from everything I knew. Sure, I didn’t have much to come back to but I didn’t want to fight in a war! And yet I stayed! I stayed, because he was there and he was kind and warm and real, and better than everything else in my life, and how could I just leave that?” 

“You shouldn’t have to,” Ben whispered. 

“He actually cared about what I had to say, and listened to me and loved me for who I was,” he continued as tears burst from his eyes like a dam, taking with it the remains of Klaus’ resolve. His hands rose to wipe at his eyes. “Me! How could he love me? The family disappointment! He had absolutely no reason to, but he did. He saw the kind of mess that I was and he still thought I was good enough. In the 60s no less, where the stigma against same sex relationships was huge, and he could have gotten disowned from his entire family for so much as looking at a man twice.” 

Closing his eyes, Ben nodded. He wished he had something to say, but he had a feeling Klaus just needed to get this off his chest. He wondered if Klaus had any chance to properly grieve. 

“It was the first time in my life that someone saw me for who I was, and decided to stay. He had no connection to me. He wasn’t my dead brother, who only stays with me because where else would he go? Dave wanted to stay,” Klaus explained, voice breaking and chin trembling. “I knew how to shoot a gun well enough from Dad drilling it into me, but it was clear that I didn’t have military training. I would have died the first week I was there just because I didn’t know what the hell I was doing, but Dave went out of his way to help me. He showed me how to survive there and saved my life.” 

“They made you fight even though you weren’t trained?” 

Klaus laughed miserably. “You think they cared?” There was a rawness to his tears, like everything was still fresh. Left to sit and boil and grow until it overflowed and brought down all of Klaus strength with it. Like a puppet whose strings had been snapped, he leaned his weight against the side of the bathtub. He tried to wipe his tears away with his sleeves only for more tears to leak out and roll down his cheeks. “War took everyone it could get.” 

“That’s-” What could he even say that fit? Awful? Cruel? 

“I showed him the briefcase,” Klaus told him, lifting his head to look at him through thick lashes that were clumped together with salty tears. “I said that I could take him back to my own time, but he wanted to see his sister again, and his grandfather was sick. He didn’t want to leave them, not unless he had a proper chance to say goodbye. And I respected it, and said I would wait with him there until he could go back home.” 

He was going to bring Dave back to his own time? He could see it now; Klaus disappearing in a flash of blue and coming back with a soldier, trying to get him settled in a completely new time. The fact that Dave was willing to go with Klaus at all showed just how much he loved his brother. 

In a weird way, he was glad Klaus found someone like that to show him that he could be loved so completely by an outsider. 

Ben wondered what would have happened if Klaus succeeded in bringing Dave back, especially with Vanya destroying the moon. Would he have just died anyway along with everyone else? Or would Klaus have brought Dave back with them? Would the others have even allowed that? 

“We were going to survive and have a farm in the country, or something equally as corny,” he admitted quietly, snapping Ben back to the present. Klaus shook his head and made his curls fall onto his forehead, rubbing at his eyes jerkily in frustration. “I should have argued, insisted, pleaded- done something! I could have had him with me here, alive, but instead I let it go. I let him get killed-” 

“No!” Ben exclaimed, surprising himself at his volume and fierceness. He reached out his hands to grab Klaus, but his hands just phased through. He swallowed down his disappointment. “You could not have made him change his mind, alright? You did the right thing by allowing him to have the choice to say goodbye. You’re only making yourself feel worse by adding guilt on top of everything else.” 

“But I could have saved him.” 

“Would he have wanted that, though? Sprung to a completely new time before he was ready?” 

Klaus screwed up his face. 

“Yeah, I didn’t think so,” Ben said. 

“None of it matters.” Klaus gritted his teeth. “It figures. I actually managed to find something real in my life, and then it had to get ripped away before I even had the time to appreciate it. After all of that, he doesn’t even try to find me? That’s all he has to say?” 

“There has to be an explanation,” he determined. “There’s no way he wouldn’t come to you if he could find you.” 

“I’m so sober it’s actually disgusting,” Klaus sniffed, scrubbing the tears off his cheeks. Then he winced as he moved his injured nose. “I see every ghost there is for me to see. So why,” he cried, slamming his hand into bathtub and having the impact echo around them. “Why is he not here? Not even a ‘hello how do you do’? Where is he?” 

“I don’t know,” Ben admitted lowly, looking away. 

Klaus closed his eyes, silently breathing in and out in order to calm himself. Tear stains covered his cheeks, and his eyes were red and puffy even though the tears have just about stopped. “After you died,” he said so quietly that Ben nearly didn’t hear him. “You came to me after two days; a day before your funeral.” 

Ben blinked in consideration, not having expected the conversation to go in this direction. The events following his death were blurry at best, consisting of reliving his death over and over again until every detail was permanently scarred into his memory, feeling like he was watching everything through a thick pool of rippled water and not being able to feel anything other than insane anger and grief. But he remembered Klaus telling him what happened when he finally had the presence of mind to find his brother, which included scaring Klaus so badly that he woke every corpse within a fifty-mile radius with his shriek and Klaus crying so badly upon seeing him that he was unresponsive for ten long minutes while Mom tried to calm him down and Ben just stared at nothing with blank eyes. 

“How did you find me?” Klaus finally asked. “Did you just go home knowing I’ll be there?” 

“I-,” Ben started, but had to wait to find a way to finish. “I went home. I think. I can’t remember.” 

“And if you didn’t find me there? Where would you have gone?” 

He opened his mouth multiple times to try and say something, but words always failed him. Feeling like he had a sky-high wall around his memories, he sagged his shoulders. “I’m not sure. I’m sorry.” 

Letting out a breath, Klaus nodded. “I just want to see him again, is that so much to ask? I can’t not see him again. To say goodbye, to hear his voice one more time, tell him I love him and see him smile at me like I’m someone worth smiling at.” 

“Then you have to stay sober. Not just to see Dave again, but for yourself. This is the first time you’ve made a proper effort and I don’t want you to fuck it up, as you do with everything else.” He side-eyed his brother, taking in his shaken frame. “You owe it to yourself.” 

“What I owe myself,” Klaus said, clicking his tongue, “is to get a good night's sleep by silencing the ghosts.” 

“Well, what if you go get high today, and Dave finds you tomorrow? Who will give out to him for taking so long?” 

“What if I stay sober and he won’t find me at all? Then it would have been all for nothing.” 

“Recovery is never for nothing,” Ben said slowly, locking his eyes with Klaus. 

“I wish it were that easy.” 

“Listen to me,” he said as he leaned forward towards his brother. “_Y__ou _were the one who made the decision to go sober. You might have gotten the motivation you needed from Dave, but Dave did not sit you down and demand you get clean. It was all you and it was the best damn decision you could have ever made. And I’m,” he faltered, feeling silly all of a sudden and refusing to stop now. “I’m proud of you, alright? I know how much you hate the ghosts, and yet you still got to one week.” 

Klaus stared at him, before snorting. “I never thought I'd see the day you would be proud of me.” 

“Neither did I,” Ben admitted. If there was any time for Klaus to actually listen to him, it was now. “Yet here I am. Klaus- I’ve watched you be a shell of yourself for thirteen years. I could never do anything but watch as you buried your trauma and emotions under every questionable drug in existence just because you were miserable and scared and didn’t want to feel any of it, until all that was left was an artificial mask that hurt to even look at. I thought that was what you’ll be forever, but you’ve proved me wrong. You need to keep proving me wrong.” 

Taking a deep breath, Klaus rubbed at his eyes once more. “I was going to quit last night.” 

“But you didn’t,” Ben said, using Klaus’ words against him. “You’re still here, making the first steps to recovery and you talked to me about Dave. You can get there. Just take it one day at a time and it will get easier. And it would help if you just talked to Diego too instead of the two of you being mad at each other like toddlers that stole the other’s building blocks.” 

“Oh, here we go again.” Klaus rolled his eyes. 

“Just think about it. It felt good when you talked to me, right?” 

Klaus scoffed. “No, it just made me ugly cry in the middle of the bathroom.” 

“I’ve seen worse.” 

“What? Your emo pictures from when you were fifteen?” 

“We agreed not to talk about that-” 

“Then again, you’re still emo as hell with that outfit.” 

“You’re hilarious.” 

“I try.” 

The two of them were left in as much of a comfortable silence as they could get with the screeching song in the background. Sitting next to each other, Ben wondered if anything he did today made any sort of a difference. He poked at one of Klaus’ freshest wounds and made him cry and for what? 

Pushing himself off the bathtub several minutes later, Klaus placed his dog tags back underneath his shirt. He shook himself and looked around the room, before walking the short distance to the sink. He picked up the tube of toothpaste beside the faucet, staring down at it for a second as Ben just watched him curiously. 

“Hey,” he called out, taking a moment to concentrate. “Catch.” 

The tingling sensations spreading up from his fingertips as he became corporeal took him so off guard that he fumbled and flailed with the toothpaste for a straight thirty seconds as Klaus stood before him, hands glowing blue. 

“I figured we could practice some more, as you might as well get the most out of these powers while I'm stupidly sober,” Klaus told him neutrally. “I know how much it means to you.” 

Managing to finally wrap a steady hand around the toothpaste, Ben took a moment to appreciate the feel of it against his skin. Made a split-second decision, he threw the tub away over his shoulder and did not care about the light crash he heard behind him. 

Then he promptly nearly knocked both of them down to floor as he ran at Klaus with the speed of a truck, pulling his stupid brother in for a damn hug before Klaus lost the connection. 

-.-.-.- 

Night fell upon the world like a thick blanket of black, swallowing up the natural light like a blown-out candle. Neither the moon or the stars were visible against the heavy layer of dark clouds, shadowing everything below in a rich and consuming darkness. Only the streetlights and the lamps overhead provided any source of visibility, illuminating the area in front of Klaus in pale shades of orange. 

The rhythmic hum of millions of individual raindrops colliding against the earth and the low whistling wind surrounded the town. Rustling leaves and screeching tyres against the slippery road occasionally broke through the dulling cacophony of rain. The fresh scent of rainfall mixed with the smoke from his cigarette as he stood underneath the overhanging in front of the hotel with only his dead brother as company. 

For such terrible weather, the air felt warm enough that Klaus decided against wearing a jacket. He extended his bare arm out from under the extended roof, allowing droplets to splatter against his skin and causing goosebumps to arise. The cool water pooled on his arm, slipping downwards to his fingers in little rivers and dripped down to the ground as quickly as they had come. 

Klaus didn’t mind the rain. There was a certain calming quality to it that helped settle him even if he felt like he was a second away from leaving the ground and floating away. After spending his fair share of nights under unrelenting rainfalls, he had come to appreciate the steady background noise. Maybe it was his imagination, but he liked to think that the rain helped to calm down the ghosts as well and make them less hostile in the downpours. 

He took another drag of his cigarette, still cheering inwardly at the crazy cheap cigarette prices – he could probably buy over a dozen packets for the price of one back in his own time – and tried to repel his lingering anxiety. Ben stood off to the side, being his usual silent observer and allowing him to have a moment to himself for the first time in several days, probably only here to call him a moron if he got the sudden strong urge to get as high as possible very quickly. 

Convincing Diego that he was not, in fact, trying to sneak away or get high and just needed a moment away from those ghosts that were erasing every single atom of his will to live used up every trick in his book but he got there eventually. He didn’t know if Diego actually trusted his word after last night or if he was secretly hiding behind a bush to spy on him, but he didn’t care at the moment. At least he wasn’t anywhere Klaus could see him. He was quite sick of his brother’s face, if he was being honest. 

Throwing the stub on the ground and stepping on it, Klaus could feel the exhaustion in his muscles. He fidgeted with the lighter in his pocket, debating lighting another cigarette just to stall going back to his hotel room; but he didn’t want to stay outside for much longer either. He was just too tired, physically and emotionally, and the headlights of the passing cars felt like a bundle of needles snuck and wiggled inside his brain. It was just his luck to get stuck with extended time travel symptoms, never able to shake off his headaches and pain volume coming and going but always feeling a pressure behind his eyelids like it got imprinted inside his skull. 

If there was one thing Klaus had not expected about being sober, it was how tired it left him. How overwhelming the lack of fog in his brain could be after experiencing life as it was for the first time in god knows how long without any filters. 

All he wanted was to simply lie down somewhere and pass out until all the bullshit with the Commission and saving the world was over and to wake up without all the stupid pain and discomfort. Klaus would never take proper and uninterrupted sleep for granted again if he ever managed to get it back, instead of getting awoken and forgetting where he was and mixing the ghosts in front of him with the ones in the mausoleum. 

“You look like shit,” he heard Five’s voice say out of absolutely nowhere, giving him enough of a heart attack to take a solid decade off his lifespan and sending a fresh jolt of pain straight into his head. Klaus jumped and somehow managed to drop both his lighter and his packet of cigarettes even though they were in his pockets. He turned in place and came face-to-face with a drenched Five that was clutching the straps of his backpack and clearly on his way back from where ever the hell he went at such a late hour. “Do you have an iron deficiency or have you decided to just dress up as the ghosts you talk to?” 

“Says the guy who looks like a drowned rat,” Klaus said as he felt his heart pound against his ribcage in surprise. He noted how Five’s hair laid in lumps on his head, rain drops falling down from the tips and running down his face until they reached his chin. “Which, to be fair, is a vast improvement on how you usually look.” 

“Go do me a favour and choke,” Five said lovingly. 

“How tempting,” Klaus replied drily, dropping down to pick up his dropped items. “I’ll go do that just because you asked so nicely.” 

“That’s a relief.” Five looked over at the front door, then back at Klaus. “Are you planning on staying out here?” 

Klaus went over his options, asking himself the very same question. He did not want to go back to his own room, as he was going to scream if he saw another ghost with a sense of entitlement to his attention that was larger than their entire Milky Way galaxy, as if he had nothing better to do all day than find and confront murderers about their past doings just because a ghost told him to. Sure, sobriety came with having a lot more time on his hands, but he had absolutely zero interest in picking up a deerstalker and a pipe and switching his career path towards detective work. He would happily leave that area for Diego and his dumb vigilante business. 

He could stay here, but there were only so many cigarettes he had left and he had never been a fan of the dark. What was he supposed to do out here anyway other than think about his life choices? There weren’t even any damn stars out here for him to look at and ponder about how insignificant he was in the grant scale of the universe. 

Then there was Five, who was impatiently waiting for him to answer and would probably just leave him alone to work on his nerd math or sacrifice a lamb in the middle of his room just because he could. 

Between entitled ghosts, evaluating his life choices and Five, he knew where he would rather take his chances. 

Making up his mind, he gestured for Five to lead the way inside. He stuffed his things back into his pocket and glanced at Ben, who had been watching their exchange silently and didn’t even acknowledge Klaus looking at him. Shrugging, he walked into step beside his brother and left Ben to follow behind them if he pleased. 

The two of them went inside quietly. They passed the reception desk, where a lone worker was on the night shift and was falling asleep over some kind of magazine. Five was trailing water inside, leaving footsteps on the carpet. Lights lit up the building, spaced out along the ceiling and making dark shadows appear over the sharp corners. The bright blues of the place were dulled down at night, making it look eerie instead of welcoming. 

He dragged his legs as they took the stairs up to the fourth floor where his and Five’s rooms were. On their last flight of stairs, as Klaus was holding onto the banister and pushing himself forward, Five broke their silence. “Heard you tried to relapse last night,” he said simply and nodded to Klaus’ bruised nose. 

He rolled his eyes. “Diego and his big mouth. Figures that he would have told everyone.” 

“Why?” Five looked him over and Klaus felt like he was being analyzed for some sort of experiment. 

Klaus shrugged, not wanting to get into it. “I had a bad night.” 

“What does that mean?” 

“It means what it means.” 

“Great,” Five said, nodding. “Very informative. Thanks.” 

“No problem.” 

“Diego asked me to help you,” Five continued, scowling. “What am I? This families’ official therapist?” 

“Aw Fivey,” Klaus cooed mockingly. “Do you think something like helping your brother’s crippling addiction is below you? Well, it was Diego’s idea. I told him that you were too much of a prick to care.” He could already hear Ben’s voice in his head, telling him to stop being an asshole to the one brother who could have a chance at helping him figure out his powers, but Klaus never claimed to have a lot of self-control, or any at all. Ben was his impulse control, and god only knew where Ben was right now. 

“Too much of a prick, am I?” Five said. “Well, I was going to make sure I have about an hour spare tomorrow so I could see what I could do to help you, but it seems like that’s below me.” 

Klaus looked sideways towards Five, nearly tripping on a step in his surprise. “What happened to the whole spiel about how you have so much to do and to leave you alone because you don’t have the time to deal with the rest of us? Or did I mishear?” 

Five sighed. “Look. If you need my help, I'll help. I’ll find the time. If what Diego told me is true, you could use it. But if you want to deal with it all by yourself and go back to wasting your life, then that’s your choice.” 

“Wow,” Klaus drawled as they reached their floor. “You’re such a saint.” 

“Your powers have always been weird, so I don’t know if you could even find a way to control it-” 

“How inspiring-” 

“-But I'll go over it with you tomorrow with you and see what I find,” he told him as he came to a stop outside his room. The light from underneath the door suggested that Vanya was still awake. His room was all the way across the hallway, and he already knew that there was no way that Diego was asleep. “Just hold out until then. Surely that’s not too much to ask.” 

“Right,” Klaus muttered. “Of course. Piece of cake.” 

Nodding, Five made it clear that the conversation was over. Even so, Klaus invited himself inside once the door was unlocked, slipping inside with ease. Five cursed at him, asking what he was doing, but Klaus just ignored him and looked around the room. Two beds, window, bathroom, carpet. Identical to his own in nearly every way, down to the blue floral pattern on the bedsheets and the side table under the window. 

The first bed had a mess of papers on top while Vanya sat on the second bed, a puzzle book on her lap and a pen in her hand. Ben was already inside, standing against the right wall, seeming like he was expecting to see Klaus here all along. 

He nearly cried in relief when there were no other ghosts visible inside the room, only hoarse cries coming from the direction of the bathroom. Klaus made a note to make sure not to ever go inside in case the ghosts decided to follow him out. He wondered if he could somehow convince Five or Vanya to switch rooms with him so he could sleep in here. Or he would make himself comfortable on the floor if that was what it took. 

“Hey, Five,” Vanya greeted, closing the puzzle book. She peered at him in confusion. “Klaus?” 

Klaus waved his HELLO hand as Five kept the door open and was glaring at the back of his head. “I- uh- found a stray,” Five said, clearly not understanding what Klaus was doing inside the room and gesturing for him to leave. “He was just leaving.” 

“No, I wasn’t,” Klaus said cheerfully, walking over to Vanya’s bed and throwing himself onto his stomach beside her knees. 

“Yes,” Five said again, more harshly. “You were.” 

“_No_, I wasn’t.” 

“Klaus.” 

“That’s me.” 

“Leave.” 

“No.” 

“You can’t be here.” 

“Tough luck.” 

He rolled over onto his back just in time to see Five pinching the bridge of his nose. “If you don’t leave, I’ll drag you outside myself by the roots of your hair.” 

Vanya watched their exchange in amusement. “Just let him stay, Five,” she chuckled quietly, much to Five’s displeasure. “He can leave once we go to bed.” 

“That,” Klaus called out, reaching out to poke Vanya in the leg and being very much aware that he was planning on sleeping here, “is why you’re still my favourite sibling.” 

“Not Ben?” She asked, tucking a stray lock of hair that fell out of her twisted bun behind her ear as she smiled at him. He heard Five slam the door shut and throw his wet bag onto his bed with more force than necessary. 

“Oh no,” Klaus replied, sitting up to lock his eyes with Ben as he spoke. “He’s my least favourite, by far.” 

Ben scoffed. 

“Is he here now?” Vanya wondered earnestly as she followed his line of sight towards the wall. Five was unzipping his jacket in front of the room, flinging the wet lump onto the floor and just leaving it there. He had let go of the Academy uniform as it was a clear pointer for people looking for him but Klaus was still getting used to seeing Five in things that weren’t his schoolboy clothes, like the grey sweater and jeans he was wearing now. The jacket seemed to absorb the majority of the rain, as his sweater did not look overly wet. His hair and his pants, on the other hand, were. 

“Yup,” he answered, waiting passively as Five took off his soaked shoes and socks aggressively. That psychopath really needed some anger management classes. He looked back at his sister when Five left to the bathroom to dry his hair. “He follows me constantly like the obedient dog that he is. I sometimes wonder if he’s stalking me.” 

“How do you get through the door with a head that big?” Ben asked him and Klaus just sent him a kiss. 

Vanya nodded. She moved in place until her back hit the headboard. She played with a spare thread from the end of her button-up striped shirt as she kept her gaze on the piece of wall Ben was leaning against. “Hey, Ben. I didn’t get to talk to you today.” 

Of course not. Klaus was too busy having a breakdown in a bathroom and then throwing the rest of his money at cheap earplugs that probably won’t even make much of a difference. He wondered if Vanya came by earlier looking for him, and if she only spared him a glance now because he was the only way she could talk to Ben. 

Klaus did not come here to play the telephone, he just wanted to sleep. But he didn’t have it in his heart to tell Vanya to leave them alone, and listened to her talking about some book series that Ben started but never finished as he died and delivered Ben’s answers to Vanya. He ended up tugging a pillow from behind his sister and placing it over his face so that he was plunged into darkness. Only Vanya’s voice to his left and Ben’s voice further down to the right kept him from completely spacing out, thinking about sleep and how much he missed the buzz in his veins and how long it would take Diego to figure out that he wasn’t coming back to the room tonight, and how angry he was going to be tomorrow as a result. 

There was a stop in the back and forth between Ben and Vanya sometime later. Klaus lost track of how long he was lying there and repeating Ben’s words to Vanya like some sort of discount parrot, and it was only Vanya’s quiet question of “Uh- Five? Um-” that he pushed himself upright and opened his eyes. 

Any thoughts of lying on the floor and forgetting his woes by attempting to get some proper sleep went straight out the window as he watched a newly-dried Five take out a full and unopened bottle of tequila from his bag, plopping down on the edge of his bed with it. 

Klaus sat up straighter and had to shake himself a few times to ensure he wasn’t seeing things. “Where did you get that?” he asked, eyeing the innocent bottle in Five’s small hands with a longing expression. This night just got a lot more interesting all of a sudden. 

“Stole it, probably,” Ben said, not sounding all that surprised. 

Five shrugged, taking a second to open the bottle and swallowing a large mouthful of it. “Doesn’t matter,” he said, voice breaking as he winced at the taste. “It’s not for you. If you even think about reaching for this, I'll sever your arms, cut them up into little cubes and feed them to you.” 

“That’s,” he whispered, taken aback, “so unnecessary.” 

“Um,” Vanya said again, looking back and forth between Five and the alcohol. “Are you sure you should be-” 

“Yes,” Five said with no room for argument, taking another large sip. 

Eyebrows furrowing, Klaus crossed his arms over his chest. “There has to be some kind of rule out there that forbids you from drinking in front of a recovering addict,” he looked over at Ben for backup. “Right? He’s just rubbing it in my face at this point.” 

“You could just leave,” Ben said instead of backing him up like the unreliable fucker that he was. 

“Please,” Five rolled his eyes, swallowing thickly a few times to get the alcohol down. “You’re the one who invaded my room. Believe me, you’re more than welcome to leave if you’re so offended.” 

“And now I’m going to stay just because you two said that,” Klaus said, feeling petty satisfaction as Five’s scowl deepened and Ben rolled his eyes. He stretched his legs, making it clear he was getting comfy on Vanya’s bed. Vanya crossed her legs to make more room for him without complaint, bless her. 

“Five,” Vanya tried again. “I don’t think you should be drinking.” 

“I’ll let you have some if you shut up,” Five offered, extending the bottle to her and causing Vanya to pause. She took it and examined the liquid inside. 

“Well,” Klaus muttered, restraining himself from taking the bottle from Vanya. “Alcohol is a great way to forget your problems.” 

“You are, of course, talking from experience,” Ben commented. 

Klaus shushed him, continuing. “What problems are you trying to drown out, dear Five? Oh no, did your mannequin dump you? I wouldn’t blame her, honestly.” 

“His equations aren’t working well,” Vanya told him as she gathered up her book and placed it on her nightstand beside her lamp. She took a sip of the alcohol and promptly started coughing. She took a moment to gather herself, before wheezing between her coughs, “he’s been complaining about it all day.” 

“Don’t remind me.” Five turned sharply towards the bed, looking at his papers behind him in disgust. He picked up the closest sheet, looking it over, before growling and crumpling it up into a ball and tossing it halfway across the room. “Ugh,” he growled again, like the feral animal he clearly was. “All of this is pointless!” 

“Since when do Five’s equations not work?” Klaus asked. 

“Since none of it is balancing correctly when I have so many hurdles to keep track of!” 

“Okay,” Klaus said intellectually as Five took the bottle back from Vanya. “So, you’re getting drunk. . . because you can’t do math?” 

“I can do math better than you ever will!” Five exclaimed after a long gulp of alcohol, climbing to his feet slowly. “There’s just something I'm missing, and I don’t have the damn time to leave and fully research it! Allison wants me to make sure that my calculations keep Claire in mind, which is fine, but now I have to make sure Allison still takes all the necessary steps in order to marry that guy of hers so she can have Claire,” he took another sip before continuing, apparently being on a roll. “And the Commission are planning something for sure but I don’t know what it is and Vanya’s powers are still unstable, and Luther keeps trying to tell me to hurry up and get us out of 1982 and now Diego came to me, being angry about _you_,” he pointed a finger at Klaus with a sweeping gesture. “And I told him how busy I am, and he just accused me of refusing to help my brother and told me that I was selfish for hiding away while the rest of them have to deal with each other as if I haven’t been trying to fucking save everyone since I got here!” He took a long breath after he was done. 

Silence spread after Five’s impromptu speech as the three of them stared at Five. Klaus recovered quickly, barking a sharp laugh and throwing his head back. “Five. I mean this with as much love as I can, but what the fuck,” he said in-between laughs, swinging his legs around and onto the carpet. “You’re honestly the most stressed ten-year-old I've ever seen.” 

“I’m literally older than you, dirt rag,” he hiccupped from the speed at which he was ingesting the alcohol. Then he lowered his voice to try and talk to himself, but he wasn’t quiet enough to prevent Klaus from hearing him. “Fuckin’ Diego saying I’m selfish. I’ll show him selfish. Without me, this entire family would be dead!” 

He continued muttering to himself as he took occasional sips from the bottle, probably already well on his way to getting shitfaced with his thirteen-year-old alcohol tolerance. Klaus and Vanya shared a long, considering look. 

“I don’t know about you, Vanny,” he leaned towards her and whispered. “But I love being an enabler of bad decisions.” 

“Maybe the hangover tomorrow can teach him a lesson,” Vanya agreed. 

He looked over at Ben, who was watching Five in amusement. “Just promise me you won’t touch the alcohol,” he said to Klaus when he caught him looking. 

Klaus bit the inside of his cheek. 

“Promise me,” Ben said again. “If you can’t do that, just leave now. Don’t make things worse by having the temptation right there.” 

“But-” 

“No, Klaus,” Ben cut him off. “We’ve been through this already. You should go wake up Allison instead. I already checked and her room only has two ghosts, but they should be better than the ones in your room.” 

And deal with Luther’s snores rattling his bones the whole night? Able to sleep through a hurricane, Luther snored so loudly that it beat any alarm and Klaus knew that going there would be the definition of being counter-productive. He always wondered how Allison was able to sleep through it. 

No. He could do this. It would be easy. Child’s play. Especially if Five kept holding the bottle as if he were Gollum and the tequila was his treasure. He nodded at Ben; a silent promise that he would try and not touch the bottle. He could do this. He could control himself. He could. 

He took a deep breath to gather his strength. He turned his head back towards Five. “Hey,” he called out to him just to see what would happen. “Why can Vanya have some but I can’t?” 

Five stopped in the middle of his own mutterings. “Because I like her more than you.” 

Vanya ‘aww’ed, quickly covering it up with a cough when he looked at her in betrayal. 

“Uh, how rude,” Klaus snorted. “I’m a delight.” 

“No, you’re not,” Ben said. 

“No the fuck you aren’t,” Five told him in the same moment. 

He pouted. “Now that just hurts my feelings.” He continued on, not even listening to Ben’s whispered, but undeniably mean, reply. “Hydration is important, Fivey. If you’re gonna drink your worries away with Vanya, I need something to drink too.” 

Five thought for a moment, before smiling his signature serial killer smile. He went back to his backpack, digging around in it before taking out a berry juice box. “Kids drink juice. Here you go.” 

He caught the juice box when Five threw it to him as Ben cackled. He turned it around in his hands. It was a kid’s box, with bright colours and a cartoon lion in the front. Why did he even have this? Doesn’t matter, he could play Five’s little game. He thanked Five with a smile that showed too many teeth and stuck the straw into the box after three unsuccessful tries just to spite the maniac and his shitty sense of humour. 

“Oh,” Vanya said after Five smiled at Klaus trying to stop himself from cringing at the overly sweet berry juice that assaulted his taste buds. “We can’t just sit and drink all night, that’s dumb. I know what we can do!” 

Klaus made a questioning sound with the straw in his mouth when Five went back to his bottle. 

Vanya leaned over by the side of the bed, reaching down to pick something up. Grinning when she straightened up, she waved a pack of Uno around for them to see. “I played with Allison yesterday, but it’s better with more people. So, what do you say? A few rounds?" 

“Sure!” Klaus agreed as it seemed his previous plans of sleeping were no longer so simple. 

“No,” Five said at the same time, squinting at the packet in her hand. 

“Why not?” Vanya asked. 

“Because that’s a dumb game,” Five murmured. “Why don’t you get some proper cards?” 

Before Vanya had a chance to get upset over Five’s refusal, the ends of Klaus’ mouth twitched upwards. “Are you too scared to play, Number Five?” 

“Why would I be scared?” 

“Well, I’ll have you know that I’m very good at Uno. So, I can understand if you’re too intimidated to play against me.” 

Five narrowed his eyes at him. His jaw set as he turned so sharply towards him that he jerked the half-empty bottle and sloshed tequila over his feet and the carpet. “I know what you’re doing. That’s not gonna work on me.” 

Klaus smirked. “Wanna bet?” 

-.-.- 

Ten minutes later, the three of them were in a small circle on the floor between the two beds and engaged in their second round of Uno. 

While the others were happy to just relax on the carpet, Klaus took all the pillows from Vanya’s bed and made himself a little cozy seat against the nightstand. He was able to lean back and comfortably sprawl his legs over Vanya’s lap, as she was sitting to his left against the frame of her bed. 

Five sat across from them, splotches of red on his cheeks and slowly becoming more wobblily animated. Vanya told him to take it easy with the alcohol before he made himself sick and took the bottle for herself, steadily drinking from it and managing to swallow the liquid down easier with each mouthful. The urge to snatch the bottle for himself was still there, but Vanya and Five somehow kept remembering to keep it out of his reach until all that remained inside would not even give him a small buzz. 

The central lighting was turned off and only the lamp on Five’s nightstand provided the room with any sort of brightness, making the colours appear more muted. The softer light and the lack of shrieks directed at him soothed his head and improved his mood considerably, making him feel calmer than he had in days. 

Their pile of cards was in the middle, uneven and messy. Ben sat on top of the left bed with his legs leaning over the side right beside Vanya's head, giving him easy access to look down at Vanya’s and Five’s cards. The two of them teamed up wordlessly and it was quite easy to prove that Klaus was, in fact, very good at Uno with an invisible brother by his side to help him cheat and predict his opponents’ moves. 

“Anyway,” Five said with a hilarious seriousness as he played a yellow eight down. “I tell myself that it wouldn’t hurt, right? I was outta proper food and then suddenly there was this weird woman in front of me. I hadn’t seen another person in decades and she was there and offering me a way out.” 

“Of course,” Klaus said around the straw in his mouth. For reasons unknown to him, Five had more juice boxes hidden away in his bag. Klaus got two more from him: apple and tropical fruit. The sweetness of the berry one probably raised his blood sugar to the heavens but the tropical fruit one wasn’t half bad. He quickly reached over to place down a colour change card and make the colour red. A little birdie told him that Vanya did not have any reds and he needed her to pick some up from the deck as she only had four cards left while he still had six. “Gotta take what you can get.” 

Vanya pursed her lips and drew cards until she got one she could place down into their pile, bringing her card total to eight. Ben quickly informed him she got two yellows, a green and a blue skip card from the deck. 

“They helped me get used to being around people again,” Five kept going, probably not even aware that Vanya was currently more interested in beating Klaus – who she probably knew was cheating – and Klaus was honestly only listening with half an ear. “And gave me access to books and papers I didn’t have in the Apocalypse.” 

“So, I guess the Commission aren’t all bad?” Vanya asked after a moment. 

“Oh, no,” Five dismissed, digging his elbow into his leg and supporting his head on his fist. “Everyone there was awful. Even the people that act all nice and butter up to you. All of them had ulterior motives and everything had a price and I hated working there.” 

Vanya visibly tried to think of something to say. “Oh, okay. That’s . . . unfortunate.” 

“Too bad Dolores couldn’t come with me.” He slapped a red three down, missing the pile by a large margin. “She would have made it more enjoyable.” 

“Dolores?” Vanya echoed. 

“The mannequin,” Klaus clarified as he stared down at the cards in his hands. 

“No shit?” She laughed. “You named a mannequin Dolores?” 

“No, I didn't name her,” Five said as Klaus placed a draw two so Vanya added more cards to her growing collection. She cursed at him as she got a red five and a green six. “Dolores was her name. She told me.” 

“A mannequin told you her name was Dolores,” she said slowly with barely hidden mirth. “And you believed her.” 

“Why wouldn’t I?” Five demanded, skewing his eyebrows at her. “Dolores would never lie to me.” 

“That’s,” Vanya frowned, “not what I meant.” 

“Then what did you mean?” 

“Just that-” she looked at Klaus in bewilderment. “It’s a mannequin.” 

“I’m aware.” 

Ben and Klaus shared a disbelieving look as Vanya struggled with finding something to say in return. 

Klaus laughed after a moment where nobody said anything else, but it sounded strained to his own ears. “God, Five. You really are one crazy bastard.” 

Five flicked a green skip card at him. 

“Dolores- she-” Five paused to gulp down some of the remaining tequila. “She was always there for me, stuck with me for so long and never asked for anything in return.” 

“Really?” Vanya asked for lack of anything else to say. 

“Yeah.” His slacked face turned fond, which was quite strange to see. Voice softer than Klaus ever heard it before, he continued, “she never allowed me to wallow in my own misery when I could be working towards my goal of getting back home.” 

“That’s kinda sweet,” Vanya said uncertainly. “In a weird way.” 

“I had no one else but her for so long and I know that I wouldn’t have made it here without her,” Five went on, unbeknownst to the air around them slowly getting heavier. “She called me out on my mistakes when I was too fucked up to properly focus on my equations and made sure I stayed alive when all I wanted to do was lay down and die.” 

“Okay, this is just sad,” Ben muttered and Klaus silently agreed. The fact that Five loved a mannequin was quickly losing its humour and becoming quite tragic. And also reminding him too much of him and Ben. Maybe he was being too harsh on judging Five on Dolores, when Ben was also someone who nobody else could see or hear and who stayed by him for years when nobody else did. 

He could see why Five made a character in Dolores, since there was no-one else around for 45 years and he needed somebody there or he would have lost himself in the isolation. Without making Dolores, Five would have probably been even crazier than he was now. If Five wanted to spout poetry about an inanimate object that he considered alive, who was Klaus to stop him? Klaus had certainty been seen doing crazier things. Or, he thought he had. He didn’t fully remember much of his endless drug induced hazes. But Ben did and he loved reminding Klaus of some of the things he had done in the past. 

“What a riveting tale,” Klaus commented blankly as he played a green seven, trying to shake away the depressing thoughts from his head. 

“You’re not listening to me,” Five accused, flailing his arm in order to point at him. 

“No, I am,” he said simply, trying to lighten the mood. “I’m just not paying attention.” 

“Fuck you, Klaus,” Five slurred in his annoyance. “You owe Dolores just as much as I do! Without her, I wouldn’t have been there to save your ass.” 

“I’ll be sure to give her my thanks the next time I see her,” Klaus told him. 

Five blinked. “Oh. That’s,” he struggled for a second, not expecting his answer. “Good. That’s. . . good.” He decided on saying, squinting at him from across their little circle before he stopped in place. “Wait no, it’s not. Because she went back to her friends before we came here, so you probably won’t see her. _I _probably won’t see her.” 

“Wait,” Klaus said, looking up from debating whether to play his draw two or skip card next. “Back to her friends?” 

“We decided it was better that way.” 

Klaus looked at Vanya, feeling like he was missing something. “What do you mean?” 

“Maybe they broke up?” Ben suggested. 

“You broke up?” Klaus asked, looking at Five’s hunched shoulders. 

Swallowing a large gulp of alcohol, Five nodded. 

“Shit,” Ben whispered. “Nice going, dickhead.” 

He glared at Ben, straightening up and taking his legs back from Vanya. He sat criss-crossed against the pillows and cleared his throat. “Fuck- I was only joking when I asked if she dumped you-” 

“She didn’t dump me,” Five corrected. “It was mutual.” 

“Right. Mutual,” he said, looking at Ben for guidance on how to advance with this. Ben just shrugged, proving once again that he was goddamn useless. “I’m sorry. Breakups suck and I didn’t mean to. . . make fun of it? Once I dated a guy-” 

Vanya, in her infinite wisdom, took over and cut him off. “Well, if it was mutual, that means that you’re still friends, right? You can see her again when we go back home.” 

“It’s your turn, Klaus,” Ben reminded him. “Play your skip card.” 

Klaus did as he was told as if on autopilot. In the back of his mind, he noticed how he only had three cards left. 

“Who knows when we will get back?” Five was asking. “I need to figure out my equations first and then we have to, y'know,” he made a wavey motion with his hand, “save the world.” 

“About that,” Klaus said as he twirled his empty juice box around in his hand, wanting to change the topic of conversation away from Five and his break up with a mannequin. “I know you said you wanted to bank on the butterfly effect, or whatever. But how is that supposed to keep the moon intact?” 

Vanya played her own skip card while Five was processing his question. Klaus could hear the clock on the nightstand ding to acknowledge the fact that it was already one in the morning. 

“One fuckin’ thing at a time,” Five decided on saying. “I don’t know all the details yet. I’ve never deliberately changed the timeline so much and across such a large scale.” 

“What a vote of confidence,” Klaus muttered, placing the empty juice box on top of the nightstand to get it out of his hand. “I’m betting fifty bucks on all of us dying within a month.” 

Five ignored him. “I want to see if I can find a way for us to influence events so that future-Vanya is not so left out, or-” he paused again. “Or have her find out about her powers sooner. Maybe if she wasn’t suppressed for so long, or if she went off her pills slowly instead of going cold turkey, her powers would be easier to control.” 

“Right,” Klaus said. “I’m sure that’ll be very simple to achieve.” 

“Ironic, isn’t it?” Five chuckled, leaning to the side and having to catch himself against the bed post. “Dad tried to save the world, but he- Wait.” Five froze himself as a thought occurred to his intoxicated brain. “If Dad knew ‘bout the Apocalypse happening, then why did he also suppress Vanya’s powers to the point where they destroyed everything?” 

Klaus frowned in consideration. 

“Maybe he didn’t know it was Vanya?” Ben wondered and Klaus asked it for him. 

“Then what did he think it was?” Five demanded. 

“Why do you think he knew anything?” Vanya asked before looking around. “Who’s turn is it?” 

“Five’s,” Ben said and Klaus pointed at him. 

“Dad must have had some suspicions or ideas or something. He had to,” Five said, throwing a card into the pile. “He went to all the trouble of getting and training us because he wanted us to save the world. After all of that effort, he didn’t even know how it happened?” 

“You spent most of your life in the Apocalypse and you never figured out it was Vanya,” Klaus pointed out. 

“Because you guys were never part of my calculations. It never even crossed my mind that it could have been one of us.” 

“Maybe Reggie was the same, then?” He asked. “Didn’t think it would be any of us?” 

Five looked at him as if he thought Klaus was stupid. “Dad? The guy who taught all of our weaknesses to each other because he didn’t trust us to not go rogue? The same guy who knew exactly what Vanya’s powers were capable of?” 

“What does it matter?” Vanya asked, unease clear in every part of her face. 

“Because he was the only person who _knew _about the Apocalypse that wasn’t part of the Commission!” Five said, slamming down a blue two onto the pile. “I was there, but I would have never known if I didn’t time travel. Dad knew the world was ending! He knew it with such certainty that he adopted seven kids and killed himself to bring them together to prevent it! How did he know this?” 

Vanya bit at her lip in thought and shook her head. “I don’t know.” 

“He knew the world was ending,” Five steamrolled onward. “And he knew that the one kid he neglected more than the others had such powerful abilities that he had to have them suppressed. Did he seriously think you would never find out about them?” 

“Apparently,” she replied bitterly. 

“But it doesn’t make any sense!” Five exclaimed in frustration. “He created a bomb and then he never considered that it would blow?” 

Vanya shrugged, looking down at her lap. 

“You wanna know what else doesn’t make sense?” Five mumbled at them, blinking and trying to focus his eyes. 

“Not really, no,” Klaus said. 

“Too bad,” Five replied. “I’m gonna tell you anyway.” 

Klaus rolled his eyes. 

“How did Dad know these kids will have powers? I don’t remember Dad ever bein’ surprised about the fact that the kids he adopted had abilities,” Five said as slowly as he could manage. “‘Specially since there were no recorded cases of powers before us.” 

“We were young, though,” Vanya reasoned. “Like four, five years old? We probably weren’t even interested in his reaction so much as we were excited to have powers at all.” 

“But he got us specifically to save the world. All of us saw the news,” Klaus said after a moment. “Many women all over the world, babies who were magically born with no reasoning and Reggie had been there almost immediately, looking to buy them but only getting seven.” 

“So, he knew we were going to be born?” Vanya asked. “How?” 

“Who knows,” Klaus shrugged his shoulders, suddenly realising he was about to only have one card left. He placed a reverse card down as Vanya tried to make him draw two. “Uno.” 

“Huh? Oh shit!” Vanya cursed, snapping to attention when she realised she was losing. “Klaus, you sneaky bitch!” 

“Tsk tsk, Vanny,” Klaus scolded with a teasing twist of his lip. “Mind your language, it’s unbecoming of a young lady.” 

“Never mind that,” Five rolled his eyes when Vanya made a face at Klaus. “I want to know how Dad knew so much. It just doesn’t make sense! Nothing about Dad ever made sense!” 

“Reggie had various screws loose,” Klaus said as he placed his last card – which just so happened to be his own draw two – and Vanya cursed again, throwing her cards into the air. He continued on as they gathered up the cards to have Klaus shuffle and distribute them for another round. “He thought it was a good idea to adopt kids only to put the literal fate of the world on their shoulders.” 

“Yeah, what’s up with that? Why would you do that to kids?” Vanya put in, finishing the bottle of tequila and tossing the empty bottle on top of the bed. 

“He raised us and knew us for our entire lives, but he never cared for any of us more than a guy would care for his sticker collection,” Klaus added after listening to Ben tell him Five’s and Vanya’s new cards. “So, excuse me if I'm a little hesitant to spend my time trying to figure him out when his life choices are almost as bad as mine.” 

“You’re not wrong, but-” Five tried to cut in. 

“He made us compete against each other, encouraged competition and resentment to grow, branded us with tattoos like we were a bunch of cattle and made us live most of our teenage years in the eyes of the media,” Klaus listed, placing down his only draw four out of annoyance and made Five dissolve into curses. “That doesn’t strike me as a guy who wants to make an effective world-saving team.” 

“He didn’t bat an eyelash when Five disappeared, or Ben died, or the rest of us left, sans Luther,” Vanya said quietly. “Then he even got rid of Luther by sending him away. And yet, he was still confident that we would all come back for his funeral.” 

“Reggie was a man of contradictions and hypocrisy,” Klaus concluded. “He has never made sense. Don’t waste your time trying to unravel it, Five.” 

“I’m not going to disagree,” Five mumbled slowly. “But if he knew we were going to be born inexplicably and at the same time, then he also must have known that we were going to be different. That we weren’t like the rest. And he probably thought we had to be treated differently as a result.” 

“But,” Klaus protested, trying to understand what Five was saying. “We were just kids. No kid deserves that, no matter if they’re different or not.” 

“We aren’t kids anymore,” Five told him. 

“But we were!” Klaus insisted, dropping his cards into a heap on the carpet. “How old were we when we started training? Four? Five? He taught five-year old's how to fight grown adults when really, we should have been playing Simon Says or Tag and stealing each other’s belongings. We weren’t meant to be heroes, or save the world.” 

“We weren’t meant to be born either, yet here we are,” Five shrugged, simply putting another card down onto the pile but Klaus didn’t feel like continuing the game. Vanya stayed silent. “We don’t follow the typical rules, and Dad knew that.” 

“That-” He swallowed. “That doesn’t excuse anything!” 

“Maybe not,” Five allowed. “But Dad was a pile of ash in our courtyard the last time we saw him. It no longer matters what Dad did or didn’t do to you. It’s about what you do despite what happened.” 

“It’s always been about what Dad did or didn’t do to us,” Vanya muttered. “He ruined our lives before we even had a chance.” 

“Then what are you going to do about it?” Five asked them harshly. “Cry about it? Boil in hate for Dad until you die? Or will you actually try to get past it to prove Dad wrong about what he thought you could be?” He looked to Vanya, “to prove that you aren’t just some bomb that needs to be sedated for her whole life?” To Klaus, “or that there’s more to you than just wasted potential and disappointment?” 

“It’s not that easy,” Klaus said. 

“Then you’re just proving Dad right.” 

Nobody said anything for a long moment, with the two of them staring at Five with various expressions of shock or anger while Five just went through the cards in his hands without a care in the world. 

“He’s right, you know,” Ben tried to say, but Klaus didn’t let him finish. He didn’t need Ben trying to act all holier-than-thou right now. 

Klaus cut Ben off as he determined, “Five, I don’t think I like the drunk you.” 

“Well, I don’t like version of you,” Five snapped at him. “But you don’t see me complaining.” 

“You complain all the time!” 

“Because you’re insufferable!” 

“I may be insufferable, but at least I’m not an entitled asshole like you!” 

“Don’t you find it funny,” Vanya laughed humourlessly, silencing Five’s retort and making them turn towards her. “How our entire lives were shaped by the one thing that supposedly made us special and better than others?” 

“Everyone thinks powers are these cool things that let you become this badass superhero thanks to comic books,” Klaus said as he picked up his cards from where he dropped them. “Ben used to have a stack and we would sit on his bed and talk shit about how unrealistic it all was.” 

“And you would always steal them for yourself,” Ben said. 

“You can’t prove that,” he replied, cheekily placing a draw two card to inconvenience Five some more. 

“When we were younger,” Vanya said after a moment where she just played with her fingers. “I would tell myself that Dad must have made some kind of mistake in adopting me. That it didn’t make sense for me to be adopted into a family of superhumans if I was ordinary.” 

Five agreed. “It never made sense to us either.” 

“I told myself that if only I magically developed powers out of nowhere, Dad would finally love me and my life would be great.” She laughed again. 

“Did you really believe that all it took was some fancy powers to get a hardass like Reggie to love someone?” Klaus wondered. 

Vanya nodded her head. “I thought the one thing standing between me and Dad’s love was my lack of powers. I would do everything I could think of to try and get powers. I would stare at objects to see if I could make them move. I would try to turn invisible. One time I wanted to jump out of my window to see if I could fly, but I never had the guts.” 

“You never told me that,” Five said. 

“I never told anyone,” Vanya replied. “Eventually it became clear that I don’t have powers and I should just accept it as it is. But I never could. I had this idea in my head about powers and how great they are even though I watched all six of my siblings lose themselves to them. Why did I think I was any different?” 

“Because that’s a natural reaction,” Klaus said as kindly as he could. “You think you’re immune to bad things, or that something bad would never happen to you; until it does.” He turned to Ben. “What was it called?” 

“Optimism bias,” Ben said. 

“Optimism bias!” He repeated, clicking his fingers. 

“I was still very naïve and stupid.” Vanya took some deep breaths as Klaus could feel the beginnings of vibrations against the nightstand. “Having powers is- is _t__errifying. _I don’t know how you guys managed to deal with it all. I destroyed the moon._The moon._ I killed people and hurt my own family like it was nothing. One wrong move and I could do it again.” 

“You won’t do it again,” Five tried to say. 

“But I could!” She turned, wide-eyed, to Five. “What if I go out of control again? If I do the exact same thing I did before and-” 

“Then we go back again,” Five replied immediately, stopping Vanya in her tracks. “We’re already wanted time travelers. Going back again is not going to change anything.” 

“But- the timeline-” 

“You think that I give a shit about the timeline? That I’ve ever cared about the timeline? Vanya, I came back to save you. To save him,” He pointed clumsily at Klaus. “To save this entire disaster of a family. I’ve spent too much damn time and effort on this to just throw it all away and let all of us die. The world was always just a positive add-on.” 

“But-” She said, trying to get some composure back. “I can’t be worth more than the world.” 

“Maybe you’re not,” Five said nonchalantly, staring down at his lap. “I don’t know what the world is worth or if you’re worth more. It has never been a choice for me. I’ve never cared about anything else.” Then, with all the seriousness a truly wasted person could muster, Five continued on when nobody else spoke. “I could see the world burn and I would still choose my family. That’s not going to change. And whatever you do, you’re still my sister. You can kill everyone hundreds of times and I wouldn’t care.” 

Vanya’s jaw just about hit the floor. “That’s- I mean-” 

Before she could put together a reply, a loud and explosive boom from below vibrated around them like a slap of thunder. 

Everyone froze, every activity inside their room halting as one while the noise slammed the inside of Klaus’ eardrums, startling him so badly that he did not register what was happening until the screams started. 

Before any of them could so much as blink, cries of alarm could be heard as the entire building began to shake like a lone leaf in the wind, snapping Klaus’ sleep-deprived mind to look at the shaking walls with blank confusion and alarm. 

“Vanya, darling,” Klaus said slowly, feeling tense with apprehension. “You didn’t happen to cause an explosion downstairs, by any chance?” 

Five hissed out a curse, scrambling off the floor and stumbling to the window. He had to steady himself on the wall as he threw open the curtains, opened the window and leaned out to get a good look at what was going on downstairs. Five’s increased hissing set a sense of foreboding to grow in his chest. 

“No, Klaus,” she replied, equally as tense and trying to keep her breathing very steady as another explosion ripped through the air and increased the shaking. 

“Then we may have a problem.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure how to feel about this chapter. It went through about 178 different revisions and rewrites and i love some parts while hating some others. Oh well.


End file.
